The Materiality Report: Aligning Strategy, Performance, and Reporting

This report, from UK-based think tank Accountability in association with BT Group and LRQA, provides a toolkit for managers to work out which environmental and social issues are material to their underlying performance, and encourages businesses to focus on these issues in their public reporting. The report describes a generally applicable Materiality Framework that can be used to help companies align their strategy to emerging social and environmental constraints and opportunities. It draws on the experience of pioneering businesses in developing a rigorous yet practical approach to determining what could be material to their long-term success. According to the report, “Accounting assessments of materiality focus too narrowly on timescales, stakeholder interests and business actions that impact on short-term performance.” While “stakeholder-driven sustainability reporting demands an ever-broader set of disclosure items focusing on business compliance, rather than opportunity.”