Evaluation of the Usefulness of the Integrated Report as a Factor in Investment Decisions

Abstract

The study proposes the methods to assess whether the integrated reports issued from Japanese companies can be used for making investment decisions. In this study, IRQ score is calculated for each integrated reports as a proxy variable for the quality of the reports. The proposed method reveals the relationship between IRQ score and corporate value, and between IRQ score and stock price. As a result, a negative relationship is shown between IRQ score and firm value, while a positive relationship is revealed for stock price. This result implies that, because of the costs involved in preparing an integrated report, it will have a negative impact on corporate value in short term. On the other hand, since stock prices are formed by incorporating long-term business growth, a positive relationship is generated between the integrated reports with high IRQ score and stock value. Because the result is consistent, the integrated reports can be used as a tool for investment decisions.