Living in a time marked by numerous sources of distraction and a short attention span, where information delivery takes various forms, organisations must recognise the basic elements and features required to ensure that the time and resources invested in sustainability reports yield tangible returns.
Organisations set different objectives for their sustainability reports beyond compliance, which include meeting the information needs of stakeholders, such as financiers and other partners.
Therefore, employing best practice principles of corporate reporting ensures these objectives for reporting are achieved.
To begin, organisations must have a good understanding of their audience and their information demands. It is the foundation from which everything else rests regarding making sustainability reports useful and relevant.
The expectations of the report audience guide the approach to the report and set the overall direction of travel during preparation. For example, an important aspect to consider is the length of the sustainability report.
Too often, organisations overlook how the length of a report affects the ease of navigation and the ability of the audience to locate pertinent information.
For example, the demand for sustainability disclosure information offers organisations an opportunity to revisit a basic element, such as how many pages are required to discuss non-financial material topics that affect financial viability.
Another often overlooked aspect is the preference for the use of infographics rather than plain text when presenting information.
While the use of infographics might appear simple, their impact is significant in how easily readers of sustainability reports understand and consume the information presented, and can draw insight from it.
It is not enough to know what you want to say; it is equally important how you say it with clarity and conciseness.
Organisations must keep their focus on the insights or actions they want readers to take as outcomes from their sustainability reports.
Another important principle is the layout and referencing applied to sustainability reports. It is another common feature of best-in-class reports. The ability to lay out a report in a simple flow that highlights the connectedness of information from one section to another, including the use of references across the report.
When considered by organisations, these elements improve the utility of their sustainability reports.
The writer is a Partner at PwC Kenya. He is an author who writes and speaks widely on corporate reporting topics
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