Financial annual reports have a very distinct audience – shareholders. There is no confusion who the readers are, and therefore, no confusion to what the content should cover. Sustainability reports, and integrated reports, on the other hand, are an entirely different ball game.

Organisations frequently ask themselves: why do they report. If companies only report because they are legally obliged to, the issue of writing specific content, appropriate to specific readers is irrelevant.

Fortunately, the majority of organisations have moved passed the compliance hurdle, and instead realise that a sustainability report is a critical window into the sustainability of an organisation. It answers stakeholders’ questions and informs their decisions. If done well, a sustainability report conveys the story of due consideration, that was given to specific material issues affecting the organisation’s future.

The sustainability report is the vote of confidence that society requires, to assure itself that a favourite brand or service is ‘good’ and ‘ethical’, respectful of the environment and considerate to people. Ultimately, this guides society’s conclusions about the organisation.

This leads to the second question: who is ‘society’? To whom do we actually report?

Report writers often claim that stakeholders do not read or give feedback on sustainability reports. The question is why? Because organisations focus on unrelated issues and do not consider the interests and expectations of their specific stakeholder groups, therefore the content is deemed irrelevant to them, and hence, they don’t read it.

In other words, companies do not fully capitalise on the link between materiality and stakeholder inclusiveness, and therefore they fail to link stakeholder interests and expectations to the actual content in their reports. This is critical. Very few companies grasp the vital link between stakeholder engagement and readable sustainability reports. In the pursuit to produce relevant, appropriate content for their readers, report writers need to realise that they can only achieve this through an on-going process of stakeholder engagement.

Furthermore, companies do not link stakeholders’ expectations to internal priorities and strategies. They may engage with key stakeholders, but they fail to use the information that stemmed from the engagement process to direct the company’s business focus.

More often than not, organisations simply ignore external voices altogether – as listening to them may force a change in strategy, internal priorities, focus and products or services.

It is extremely challenging to identify and address stakeholder expectations through thorough engagement. Translating these expectations into a user-friendly report, can be even more so. It is therefore understandable that some organisations limit their engagement to the bare minimum to prevent opening the proverbial can of worms.

However, this will always lead organisations back to their central grievance that stakeholders do not read their reports.

Key audiences – identify the voices

Organisations have been on the sustainability reporting journey for more than twenty years and apply extensive financial resources and human capital to develop sustainability reports. Regardless, there is still little consensus on who the primary audience is, or whether there is, or should be a primary audience for that matter – similar to the primary audience of an annual report. Thus, the crucial question remains unanswered: who reads sustainability reports, and for what purpose?

Of course, reporting organisations do not have the luxury of ignoring this question altogether and they have to make some decision about whom they write for. Without this clarity it is impossible to determine the content and the depth of a sustainability report and which of the issues that organisations identify through stakeholder engagement, should be reflected in the report.

As it stands today, many organisations tend to prioritise different audiences. In a sense, the diversity of audiences is a very natural consequence of reporting on sustainability issues. Sustainability is an inclusive concept that addresses the impacts of business on a very wide range of stakeholders. In this school of thought, organisations therefore report specific pieces of information to diverse audiences.

While it may be tempting to seek a priority audience because of the clarity it brings, it does not reflect the diversified nature of sustainability. Sustainability issues are just too diverse, and the social and environmental impact of an organisation just too wide. The absence of a single audience is therefore not only natural, it is preferable.

Other organisations favour a sustainability report that addresses social, economic and environmental issues for a very wide integrated audience. In an attempt to still report, but without the level of detail that will result in business upheaval, these organisations opt for the “dear stakeholder” route. Because of the lack of clarity of whom organisations should report for, they tend to report as inclusive as possible for all audiences with the aim that some of the content will be meaningful and add value. This school of thought therefore reports to a broad stakeholder base about broad topics of interest.

This approach may lack conviction – organisations have to pin down the audiences for their sustainability reports. Not doing so, deters them from the benefits of reporting, and nullifies the long (often painful) process of engagement.

Whichever approach organisations follow – diversified but targeted or broad and integrated – they all lament the fact that few people, in any cluster of readers, look closely at their reports. This once again begs the question of whether a single, interested priority audience for sustainability reports will emerge – highly unlikely.