Program Overview

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About This Course

The 'REPORTING VALUE CREATION AND SUSTAINABILITY FOR SMES' course is a massive online open course realized by Bologna University and other four European Universities. The goal of this course is to encourage Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) to consider sustainability as a means for value creation, while helping students, consultants, managers, and entrepreneurs in understanding the value of reporting.

SMEs encounter several obstacles in today's dynamic economic environment. Understanding and effectively communicating value creation and sustainability have emerged as essential components for SMEs seeking long-term success. SMEs can improve transparency, accountability, competitive advantage, risk management, access to capital, regulatory compliance, innovation, and efficiency by implementing sustainable practices and effectively communicating their efforts in that direction.

This course presents several aspects of value creation and sustainability reporting from SMEs' perspective. The MOOC is structured in 5 weeks (plus a Week 0 with a course introduction) and each week presents crucial elements that provide an in-depth understanding of the subject. Each week has modules and units consisting of readings, videos and interviews, case studies, and quizzes, according to the following structure by topics:

• Week 1 – Sustainability and sustainable development
• Week 2 – Integrated reporting and value creation
• Week 3 – Integrated reporting: a case approach
• Week 4 – Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in integrated reporting
• Week 5 – Human capital reporting as a route to value creation

The course is realized within the European+ Program titled “INTEGRES - Integrated Reporting and Education for Sustainability”, co-funded by the European Union.

Requirements

No prerequisite knowledge is required.

Quizzes and scores

The course includes ongoing quizzes for self-evaluation. They are similar to the final quiz made of 15 close-ended questions.

The course is considered successfully completed if the participant answers correctly at least 60% of the 15 questions included in the final quiz.

After successfully completing the course, you can download and print out the Certificate of Accomplishment.

Certificate of Accomplishment

The Certificate of Accomplishment will be released to anyone who successfully completed the course by answering correctly to at least 60% of the questions.

You will be able to download the Certificate of Accomplishment directly on the "Progress" tab inside the course.

The Certificate of Accomplishment does not confer any academic credit, grade or degree.

Course Staff

Petra Amersfoort

Petra Amersfoort has been a lecturer in the School of Management and Finance at AVANS University of Applied Sciences in Breda since 2016. Her main teaching domain is administrative organisation, a combination of process management, COSO and Lean principles. As a former financial controller and manager, Petra has experience in (financial) reporting and business control in SMEs.

Selena Aureli

Selena Aureli, PhD, is Associate Professor of Business Administration and Accounting Studies at the University of Bologna. Previously, she has held several teaching positions as Assistant Professor at the University of Urbino, Italy. During her career, Selena Aureli has participated in several conferences and given speeches at foreign Universities (e.g., Higher school of Economics of Moscow, Tampere University, University of Sarazoga, Technological University Dublin) as visiting professor. Her major research interests are in the field of performance measurement, sustainability and business reporting.

Monica Bartolini

In 2002, she obtained her PhD in Business Administration at the University of Pisa. Since 2019, she has been Director of the Second-Cycle Degree in Economics and Commerce, Forlì Campus and she is currently a member of the Faculty Committee of the Department of Management. Monica teaches at the Forlì Campus of the University of Bologna, in the area of management accounting, specifically Financial Accounting, Financial Analysis, and Performance Management Systems.

Astrid Cocquyt

Astrid Cocquyt is a lecturer and researcher at HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts. She has two Masters degrees, one in Business Economics and Accountancy, and one in Educational Studies. Since 2017, she has been a lecturer at HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Her teaching domains are accounting, research skill development, strategic management and value creation.

Carine Coppens

Carine Coppens is head of degree programme Financial Management at the School of Business and Management of HOGENT, University of Applied Sciences and Arts. She has 30 years of experience in accounting education and practice-oriented research. Her teaching domains are financial accounting, consolidation and taxation.

Stefanie De Bruyckere

Dr. Stefanie De Bruyckere is a lecturer and researcher at HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts, School of Business and Management. She obtained her PhD in Business Economics at Ghent University (2021), entitled “The Role of External Accountants as Service Providers for SMEs”.

Federica Farneti

Federica has been Associate Professor since 2015. She has earned the Bachelor of Economics and Commerce in 1998 being awarded with first-class honours degree. She gained a PhD in, Economics and Management of Public Organisations in 2004. Among her Research Expertise are: non-financial disclosure, New Public Management, Integrated Reporting, Directive 2014/95/UE and the Proposal on CSR (2021), Sustainable development and related reporting, Intellectual capital, SMEs non-financial reporting, Public sector, etc...

Marjolein van der Kaa

Marjolein has over 10 years of experience as a lecturer in higher education at Avans University of Applied sciences. She teaches students of the bachelor program Accountancy. Her fields of expertise are Accounting and Financial reporting. Over the last four years, she has specialized in the topic of Integrated reporting.

Benjamin Lynch

Dr. Benjamin Lynch is a lecturer in Finance at the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance in Technological University Dublin. He completed his PhD in Sustainable Finance at Trinity Business School in 2022, having obtained a MSc in International Management (TCD), H.Dip in Business (Dublin Business School) and a BA in Economics and History (UCD).

Tahis Marti

Tahis is a researcher in Sustainable Finance & Accounting at the Centre of Expertise Wellbeing Economy and Entrepreneurship at Avans University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting (AVANS, 2020). Her graduation thesis was about carbon accounting.

Elisabetta Magnaghi

After graduating with Master degree in Management Science from the University of Pavia (Italy), she obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Nancy in 2005 (France) and gained excellent experience of financial and management accounting, having then worked as a management controller for 2 years, in a French company.

Eleonora Veglianti

Eleonora Veglianti, PhD, is Associate professor at the Faculty of Management, Economy and Sciences - University Catholic of Lille, France. Her research expertise is in digital transformation in organizations, smart society, artificial intelligence, smart working and organizational issues.

Tom Vos

Tom Vos is a lecturer Economics and Finance at Avans University of Applied Sciences for more than 25 years. He has a master degree in Economics (University of Maastricht) and a degree in Education (University of Tilburg). He has broad experiences in developing educational material and innovative education.

Acknowledgement

We want to thank all the companies that have contributed to the realization of this MOOC:

• Way2Global
• Gizeta Calze
• Havep
• Schijvens
• Mistral Home
• Voka

Course Details

• Course Number: INTEGRES101
• Start Date: 15 set 2025
• End Date: 30 set 2026
• Language: English