The push for increased sustainability reporting has been taken up on a global scale by international organisations, individual businesses, the UN, EU and local governments alike. While numerous standards and regulations exist for corporate reporting in general, shifting the focus to non-financial reporting has moved more slowly.

The World Business Council for Development (WBCSD), an association over 200 companies that promotes sustainability in the corporate world, undertook research into the quality of non-financial reporting.

Using criteria developed by London-based comms consultancy Radley Yeldar and polling , it found that companies are improving the quality of their non-financial reporting. It also reports an 18% improvement in links between strategy, targets and performance.

Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever and chairman of the WBCSD, says, “It is great to see such a large number of well-respected companies adopting integrated reporting and using to get the right focus on the long term in their internal decision and in their external communications. WBCSD has indeed been leading the agenda with many members publishing their own non-financial reports, or including sustainability indicators within their mainstream financial disclosures.”

Non-financial reporting has led to the shifts in the structure of the annual report. In the UK, regulations around strategic reporting have increased the level of narrative imbued throughout the report. Alongside enhanced regulation, the investment audience has also expressed a desire to understand more about companies outside of financial performance.

At this year’s Corporate & Financial Awards, the winners for ‘Best printed report’ all exhibited excellence in non-financial reporting practice. The winner in the ‘Small cap/AIM’ category, London Mining, completely revamped its annual report to explicitly explain to its investors and employees what its operations entailed and why. Additional changes are expected as the Financial Reporting Council, UK government, EU and other organisations increase their standards.