Content analysis in integrated reports; An application in the banking sector

With the globalization, the expectations of the society are changing in proportion to the increasing power of the organizations. Experienced climate changes, diminishing natural resources, economic crises, social problems pose significant risks to the future of organizations. Encountered risks pose a threat to the sustainability of organizations. In the face of this situation, investors expect them to be responsible and transparent to the society, nature and stakeholders besides the financial statements. Reports such as financial reports, corporate social responsibility reports and sustainability reports published separately during the process do not reflect the value creation processes of organizations. Basically, the idea of reporting financial and social reporting together forms the basis of the integrated report. It enables organizations to better explain the value they create to all information users and to preserve the integrity of meaning. The integrated report emerges as a report that presents all financial and non-financial information to its investors in a concise manner. In line with the purpose of this study, the analysis of the integrated reports published by 4 banks operating in the banking sector is discussed. The integrated report data published by the banks in 2019 and 2020 was analyzed conceptually by subjecting it to content analysis. Data from Garanti bank, İşbank, Yapı Kredi and Turkish Industrial and Development banks operating in the banking sector are used.