Reporting on intellectual capital: why, what and how?

Jan Mouritsen (Professor and Head of the Department of Operations Management at Copenhagen Business School. From 1998 to 2002 Jan Mouritsen was leading the research team that developed the Danish guideline for intellectual reporting on behalf of the Danish Ministry of Technology, Research and Innovation. Tel: (45) 3815 2342, E‐mail: jm.om@cbs.dk)

Per Nikolaj Bukh (Currently working as BDO professor at the Department of Accounting at The Aarhus School of Business. During the last 3 years he has acted as a consultant to a number of Danish companies and organizations. Tel: (45) 2086 6790, E‐mail: pndb@asb.dk)

Bernard Marr (Research Fellow in the Centre for Business Performance at Cranfield School of Management and a Visiting Professor at the University of Basilicata, Italy. Prior to joining Cranfield he held a research position at the Judge Institute of Management Studies at Cambridge University. Tel: (44) 01234 75 11 22, E‐mail: bernard.marr@cranfield.ac.uk)

Measuring Business Excellence

ISSN: 1368-3047

Publication date: 1 March 2004

Abstract

Intellectual capital is an important value driver in today’s organizations. Traditional financial statements do not provide the relevant information for managers or investors to understand how their resources – many of which are intangible – create value in the future. Intellectual capital statements are designed to bridge this gap by providing information about how intellectual resources create future value. Intellectual capital statements can be used as tools to communicate the knowledge‐based strategy externally but it can also be used as an internal management tool. In this article we outline the reasons for reporting intellectual capital, introduce the elements of such statements, and present a case example from a Danish mobile phone design company.