The concept of reporting nonfinancial information within the annual report, so-called Integrated Reporting (IR) is a rising topic in reporting practice. Supporters claim that IR provides a better view regarding the value creation of a firm.This study investigates the value relevance of IR and the influence of certain characteristics such as assurance. Thus, this paper contributes to the existing literature by examining the actual advantages for firms when adopting an IR approach.The Ohlson model is applied for the market valuation of 50 companies of the STOXX Europe 50 between the years 2010 and 2016. The results of this study support the cost-concerned school by showing a negative influence on the market value. Nonetheless, the study suggests that the quality of the reports is relevant for market valuation, as the negative effect is mitigated by the quality of the reports.

The European Union wants to foster the sustainable growth of the economy by using the financial markets as an intermediary. Thus, politicians need to know which factors account for differences in socially responsible investments (SRI) between countries to create an efficient framework, which supports SRI across Europe. This study aims to provide important insights about the drivers of SRI markets for politicians as well as academics. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that provides quantitative evidence on the framework established by Scholtens/Sievänen (2013) using a comparatively large data sample comprising 13 European countries during a period from 2005 to 2015. Our results can be summarized as follows: Firstly, we show that economic wealth and the size of the pension market of a country influence the size of the SRI market per capita. In particular, it seems that countries need a certain level of wealth and pension market size to start adopting basic sustainability strategies like negative screening. Secondly, we provide evidence that the differences in national SRI evolvement stem from the individual cultural characteristics of a nation. For example, masculinity, as seen by the revenue orientation of a country, prevents the emergence of more advanced SRI strategies, like engagement or integration. However, femininity, which relates to a more societal and environmental orientation, drives the emergence of more advanced SRI strategies. In this context, the recommendation to European policymakers is to opt for a minimum standard for the integration of more advanced SRI strategies, so that non-feminine countries also implement a deep-rooted sustainable investment behavior.