ABSTRACT
It has long been recognized that in today’s economy, value often resides in non-tangible assets and that, therefore, a highly relevant form of reporting is non-financial in nature. One of the forms of combining financial and non-financial information, embracing environmental, social and governance (ESG) information, in one document is an integrated report (IR). The main purpose of that study is to analyze the development of the IR quality of disclosures presented by companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange using advanced textual analysis. In addition, authors try to identify the role of the ESG Index in IR quality and search for various configurations of key drivers linked to companies’ characteristics that explain differences in communication through IRs. The research adds new insight to the literature on non-financial and IR by exploring patterns and the development of non-English corporate disclosures. Finally, it demonstrates that companies with different sets of characteristics follow similar communication strategies and that the ESG Index inclusion has a relevant role in shaping IR communication.
