Implementation of integrated thinking principles in the accounting and control environment expands the boundaries of traditional ideas about the formation and confirmation of the reporting information reliability — from financial statements to business practice data. Based on the analysis of global trends in international and domestic initiatives for ESG reports development, the authors substantiate the conclusion that it is necessary to form a new architecture of corporate reporting verification regulations. As the study results, the paper presents the current standards of auditing from the point of view of regulating the procedure for substantiating and expressing by the auditor confidence provided to the interested user to increase confidence in the auditor’s opinion (inference). The research revealed trends in the type’s expression of confidence in the certification of public reports of companies in Russian and international practice. The authors tried to define approaches to the definition and classification of the terms verification, certification, confirmation and audit. They have been based on the level of confidence provided to the user, as well as the methodology used for obtaining evidence by the verifier. The authors highlighted the need for further development of business audit as an effective way to find a balance between the commercial interests of audit firms and the demand for reliable, transparent business information from society and stakeholders. The outcomes got will expand audit practice in implementing the concept of sustainable development and introducing ESG principles into the business processes of companies. The study may interest national regulators, professional communities, as well as investors and financial market participants.

The research discusses the features of the investment audit at various stages of implementing investment projects. The subject of the study is a methodological approach to its implementation. The goal is to reveal the content of the investment audit method. The work used general scientific principles and research methods: systematization, induction and deduction, comparison, comparison, synthesis, analysis of statistical data. The problems of creating methodology and techniques are relevant for both internal and external audit of investments. The result of the study was the definition of factors influencing management decisions in investment; audit tasks and regulatory regulations for each stage of the investment project; methods used for investment audit and internal control. Also, in the work’s course, the authors developed algorithms, methods and principles for checking assumptions (as components of the investment audit methodology). Also, the authors presented recommendations on implementing an audit by the stages of the investment process. They gave classifiers of procedures, investment risks and assumptions that have been checking during the audit, and reflected their relationship with information sources. The results of the study can be used by internal and external auditors of investment projects, credit and financial institutions, business entities.

The International Financial Reporting Standards Board (IFRS) IASB currently works on the draft new IAS 1, which would significantly improve financial reporting regulations. The analysis of this draft allows to conclude that several innovations aimed at achieving this goal simultaneously lead to the emergence of new important problems in the above field reporting. The authors have already addressed to the future IAS 1 in the previous issue of the journal “Accounting. Analysis. Audit”. They paid attention to the connection with the changes in the names of financial reporting forms, regulations for dividing into six categories of income and expenses presented in the statement (reports) of profit or loss and other comprehensive income and expenses, as well as requirements in regarding the methods of recording operating expenses in this statement. This paper studies the remaining problems associated with the innovations of the above project, and to overcome them. The methodological base of the research includes a critical analysis of the content of the above project in the terminology’s results of the study identify the major problems caused by the regulations of the draft new IAS 1, and the rationale for recommendations for their solution. Also, the research will be useful to a wide range of readers interested in reforming approaches to financial reporting, can be used in the practical work of accounting departments, in the educational process of higher educational institutions and in the development and improvement of relevant accounting regulations.

The paper describes the problems of increasing the openness of information about environmental protection activities and meeting the requirements of environmental and industrial safety by domestic enterprises within the framework of their economic activities. The authors consider theoretical and methodological aspects of the organization of ecological accounting and the formation of environmental reporting. This is an effective tool for assessing the results achieved by using nature and environmental activities of the organization. Also, it improves the level of industrial safety and environmental culture at the enterprise, using disclosure and analysis of environmental factors of sustainable development of an economic entity. The research reveals the economic essence and gives the author’s interpretation of the definitions “environmental accounting”, “environmental reporting”, “natural capital”, “environmental obligation”. The authors tried to systematize the regulatory framework for the formation of environmental reporting from the perspective of stakeholders, as well as present the classification and systematization of environmental indicators of sustainable development of the organization included in integrated reporting. The study revealed the structure of the subsystem of environmental accounting and its place in the system of accounting and analytical support of an economic entity is determined. The authors proposed mechanisms for improving the accounting of environmental obligations, real and conditional costs for nature management and ecology. The methodological basis of the study comprised systematic and dialectical approaches, as well as a set of general scientific and special methods of cognition: observation, systematization and generalization, methods of classification and grouping. The object of the study was the reporting of the largest Russian enterprises of various industries.

The paper describes the problem of standardization of the formation of non-financial reporting of Russian commercial organizations, since the information requests of stakeholders are growing, in connection with this, commercial organizations are facing the problem of optimal disclosure of information about all aspects of their activities. The aim of the study is to analyze international standards and modern trends for the disclosure of non-financial in the standardization of information disclosure in reporting of Russian domestic companies and the possibility of their application for its formation. The methodological base of the study includes fundamental concepts and approaches, fundamental provisions of economic science and applied developments, substantiated by the works of foreign and domestic scientists in the field of non-financial reporting. The authors reviewed various approaches to understanding the materiality of reporting in terms of the amount of information covered by its various types. In the work’s course, the authors studied the existing international standards used by all commercial organizations in the preparation of their reports on sustainable development (using the GRI standards), as well as they proposed a critical analysis of the GRI and SASB standards and the content of the integrated report. Also, the reaserch highlited the features of GRI, SASB and IIRC. The theoretical and practical significance of the study lies in the generated recommendations for the standardization of non-financial reporting for Russian commercial organizations.

The paper reveals the features of applying the business model of the depository as a tool to improve the efficiency of interaction with stakeholders. The study presents the results of the foreign practice analysis of the business model of integrated reporting. The authors took Foreign organizations carrying out depositary activities as objects of analysis: Standard Bank Group, DBS, Nedbank, Strate. As a result, it allowed to propose a transformed business model for value estimation for interested users. Based on the analysis, the authors substantiated of the process of creating a business model of the depository JSC “Central Depository of the Republic of Tatarstan” and its practical implementation, the necessity of its application in interaction with stakeholders. Using the business model presented in the integrated report, interested users can see the major results of the depository’s activities, the resources and capital used in creating value. Also, they can track the main business processes within the company, draw conclusions whether the results of activities satisfy the interests of certain stakeholder groups. In the course of the research, the authors have used such general scientific methods of cognition as comparison, analysis and synthesis, generalization, systematization, abstraction and modeling.

Economic substance and legal form are important factors that determine the nature of the information reflected in the reporting. The specialists apply the principle of “substance over form” in each of the information systems in its own way for financial and tax accounting. This makes it possible to fully satisfy users in terms of the data necessary both for making economic decisions and for conducting fiscal procedures. The objects of the study are the financial and tax areas, as well as their respective approaches to the analysis of contradictions between substance and form. The author presents key aspects that reflect the modern views of the scientific community, as well as describes the controversial issues regarding the application of this principality. The conclusions of many experts allow us to assert that there are still disagreements on this subject. They determine the relevance of studying the concepts that explain the interaction of substance and form in both financial and tax accounting. The results of the work are intended for specialists in the field of accounting, auditing and tax law.

The paper describes issues of improving the accounting policy as a fundamental methodological tool for organizing and implementing the accounting process and the reporting of an economic entity formed on its basis, which is the primary source of information about its financial activities. Reporting and accounting policies should be in a stage of constant development and evolution in order to meet adequate business development trends and the needs of stakeholders. In an environment where corporations are the basic form of business organization, corporate reporting, showing the process of creating value over time, results from the development of the existing merged reporting model, and corporate accounting policy is a corporate governance tool. At the same time, levelbased risk-based approach to its implementation can be considered as a tool for implementing a corporate strategy. The purpose of the research is to identify trends in improving corporate accounting policies, and the task is to update its strategic significance. In the course of the work, the author substantiates the expansion of the boundaries and functions of accounting policy in the corporate space as endowing it with the functions of a corporate governance instrument and the implementation of corporate strategy. The results of the study can be used for the purposes of corporate governance and optimization of the coordinated activities of participants in corporate relations. This caused to the process of implementing a single strategy by revealing the management functions of accounting systems and updating their predictive risk-based value.