Connected reporting: Why CAs should lead the way

As sustainability reporting requirements and expectations continue to evolve, stakeholders increasingly want a coherent picture of an organisation’s performance, risks and future prospects.

The Connected Reporting Landscape is the first report in the Global Accounting Alliance’s (GAA) three-part Connectivity in Reporting series. It explores what connectivity is, why it’s essential to high-quality reporting, and how professional accountants can help deliver it.

Why connectivity matters

As sustainability reporting matures, connectivity is becoming increasingly important. It helps ensure the different elements of an organisation’s reporting are aligned and tell a consistent story about how it creates value over time.

Connected reporting goes beyond simply cross-referencing information. It requires consistent reporting boundaries, aligned data and assumptions, and a clear narrative that brings financial and sustainability reporting together. This helps stakeholders understand how sustainability-related matters influence cash flows, cost and access to capital and investment decisions.

The GAA report highlights the risks of fragmented information, organisational silos and checklist-driven approaches, all of which can make reporting less coherent and useful for decision-making. It also considers what’s needed to improve connectivity, including effective governance, shared frameworks and collaboration across an organisation.

Ultimately, connected reporting is an opportunity to strengthen corporate reporting by clearly linking climate and other sustainability-related matters to financial performance, risk management and business strategy.

Fiona Donnelly CA, Director of Sustainability, said: “At ICAS, we support reporting that gives stakeholders a useful and comprehensive picture of an organisation. Better connectivity between financial and sustainability information is key to achieving this.”

The publication is timely in the UK, where the UK Government’s modernising corporate reporting consultation has recently opened. Its focus on a simpler reporting framework makes the GAA’s message on coherent, decision-useful reporting especially relevant for CAs and the organisations they work in.

Leading the way

CAs have many of the skills that connected reporting requires.

Professional judgement and materiality are central to making connected reporting meaningful. CAs are used to assessing what information matters, testing assumptions, building control frameworks and explaining the financial implications of complex issues. That expertise is increasingly valuable as organisations work out which sustainability-related risks and opportunities are most relevant to their strategy, performance and long-term resilience. 

CAs can also help organisations apply established reporting principles to areas that may feel newer. Frameworks such as the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards and European Sustainability Reporting Standards use concepts accountants already work with, from materiality and measurement to governance, controls and disclosure.

However, the challenge isn't just technical. It requires finance, sustainability, risk and strategy teams to work from a shared understanding of what matters and how it affects performance, risks and future prospects.

CAs can play an important role in bringing these perspectives together. By connecting data, business decisions and external reporting, they can help organisations produce information that is more credible, coherent and useful for investors and other stakeholders.

Fiona Donnelly CA, Director of Sustainability said: “We’ve been on the front foot in equipping our future CAs and members to meet this growing market need, embedding sustainability into our CA qualification and continuing professional development through dedicated CPD courses.”

Read the report now

The Connected Reporting Landscape is the first of three reports in the GAA’s Connectivity in Reporting series. The second and third report are expected before the end of 2026.

Read the first report now to learn more about connected reporting and how you can address connectivity in your own organisation.

ICAS is one of the ten world’s leading professional accountancy bodies that comprises the Global Accounting Alliance and has supported this research and the Connectivity in Reporting series.