In non-financial reporting settings, some standards and guidelines recommend the use of the Materiality Matrix (MM), a visual representation showing the output of the prioritisation phase of the materiality determination process. The MM is a graph reporting visually on how and why issues have been deemed material enough to deserve disclosure. Based on the lack of literature focusing on the MM as a visual content of non-financial reports, this descriptive work aims to investigate both the adoption of the MM (in terms of success and preferred outlets) and the variety and stability of its features in Europe. The quantitative approach taken to do so is based on an analysis of the adoption of the MM by 47 sustainability-oriented European listed companies awarded yearly by RobecoSAM during the period 2014-2018. We analysed the MM features by performing a quantitative content analysis on the 110 MMs consistently disclosed over the period of interest. Results show a) a wide and growing adoption of MMs, b) a fragmented landscape of MM practices and c) relative consistency in visualization practices over time, as companies visualize MMs differently and sometimes do not comply with templates provided by standard setters, but tend to be loyal to their choices over the years.
The Materiality Matrix in European reporting practices: a diachronic perspective
Tiziana De Cristofaro
2022-01-01
Abstract
In non-financial reporting settings, some standards and guidelines recommend the use of the Materiality Matrix (MM), a visual representation showing the output of the prioritisation phase of the materiality determination process. The MM is a graph reporting visually on how and why issues have been deemed material enough to deserve disclosure. Based on the lack of literature focusing on the MM as a visual content of non-financial reports, this descriptive work aims to investigate both the adoption of the MM (in terms of success and preferred outlets) and the variety and stability of its features in Europe. The quantitative approach taken to do so is based on an analysis of the adoption of the MM by 47 sustainability-oriented European listed companies awarded yearly by RobecoSAM during the period 2014-2018. We analysed the MM features by performing a quantitative content analysis on the 110 MMs consistently disclosed over the period of interest. Results show a) a wide and growing adoption of MMs, b) a fragmented landscape of MM practices and c) relative consistency in visualization practices over time, as companies visualize MMs differently and sometimes do not comply with templates provided by standard setters, but tend to be loyal to their choices over the years.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
