CSRD reporting for Conclusion
Client: Conclusion
Project: Recording the double materiality assessment and sustainability reporting in Key Control Dashboard
Role: Maaike Maranus-van de Vrande, Group Director Sustainability
Conclusion
For Conclusion, this was more than a reporting question. When the CSRD started making headlines in 2022, the organisation faced a considerable task: many entities, even more sustainability initiatives and a new framework of standards that requires you to back up every choice. How do you tell one structured, auditable story about all of that, without getting lost in scattered Excel files? With Key Control Dashboard from Yellowtail Conclusion, Conclusion found a route that brings its CSRD reporting together in one place, from the double materiality assessment to the conversation with the auditor. And it did so with software from its own ecosystem, as Yellowtail Conclusion is one of the Conclusion companies.
Behind the scenes of the partnership
How do you turn a risk management tool into software for sustainability reporting? In this video, Maaike Maranus-van de Vrande (Group Director Sustainability at Conclusion), Edwin Lodder (Managing Director) and Julian Zalm (Business Consultant), both at Yellowtail Conclusion, talk about what prompted the project, how the teams co-created the solution and what it delivers for Conclusion.
CSRD reporting, well prepared
The CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) gave organisations a new set of rules and regulations to work with. That takes more than a report at the end of the year. You gather information from across your organisation, back up your choices and record everything so an auditor can trace every step.
The double materiality assessment sits at the heart of this. It determines which sustainability topics really matter to your organisation, and so what you report on. You look at two sides: your organisation’s impact on people and the environment, and the financial impact of sustainability topics on your organisation. The outcomes feed into your sustainability report, which comes with its own set of rules. For Conclusion, the goal was clear: a step-by-step traceable assessment that delivers results ready for publication.
“I wasn’t going to work with a completely new application, but with one the auditor I’d be talking to already knew. So no new tool we still had to explore together, and no Excel sheet to dig through.”
– Maaike Maranus-van de Vrande, Group Director Sustainability bij Conclusion
From risk management to materiality assessment
In 2023, Conclusion started looking for partners to help. That search led to Key Control Dashboard, an application for risk management. In the very first conversations, the Key Control Dashboard team saw plenty of ways to turn the application into software for the double materiality assessment and sustainability reporting.
What followed was a co-creation process, with lots of dialogue and a genuine partnership. As with every project, the Key Control Dashboard team started with a functional design. Together with Conclusion, the team mapped out the needs and requirements the solution had to meet. The assessment builds on the best-practice approach of the NBA (the Royal Netherlands Institute of Chartered Accountants), tailored to Conclusion’s organisation. After the build, both teams validated and tested the solution together, so the end product fits the way Conclusion wants to report.
Why Conclusion chose Key Control Dashboard
A proven foundation
More than fifteen years of practical experience. Not a new tool to explore together, but an application the auditor already knows.
Every step on record
Key Control Dashboard records every step of the double materiality assessment, including the reasoning behind it. That keeps your reporting straightforward.
Built together
Functional design, shared requirements and joint testing. The solution fits the way Conclusion works.
The result
Conclusion now records its double materiality assessment in a structured way in Key Control Dashboard. In one environment, Conclusion sees how the assessment is progressing, which stakeholders are involved and where the process stands. You see exactly what happened, which choices Conclusion made and why. Gathering information from the various entities, usually a sizeable job, also runs through the tool.
“Gathering all that information across your organisation is a lot of work. In Key Control Dashboard, you do it at the push of a button.” – Edwin Lodder, Managing Director bij Yellowtail Conclusion
Ready for what’s next
European rules on sustainability reporting are still changing. One thing stays the same: if you report, you back up your choices and record them in a way others can verify.
Curious how Key Control Dashboard supports your double materiality assessment and sustainability reporting? Take a look at the ESG solution from Key Control Dashboard or get in touch.
