Research limitations/implications – The authors intend to stimulate the academic as well as
institutional discussion on how to apply the concept of IR at the corporate level. As the characteristics of the
proposed VAS comply well with the guiding principles and concepts developed in the Integrated Reporting
Framework project of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and with the ultimate objective
of integrated thinking, the study can inform the current considerations within and outside of the IIRC.
Originality/value – The future of IR and the probability of its world-wide application in practice will
depend on the development of appropriate reporting tools that incorporate the central ideas of IR,
currently no such reporting tools exist. In this paper the authors make an argument for a VAS as a
complementing, useful and therefore appropriate reporting tool for IR.