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A number of states have recently either adopted, or have considered adopting, combined reporting accounting for state income tax purposes. Proponents claim that this policy increases state revenues by obviating certain tax panning techniques, while critics claim this policy causes firms to avoid locating in a state, or to downsize. There has been mixed empirical evidence to support either position. The purpose of this paper is to provide more convincing empirical evidence, which is enabled by a new dataset.

The study uses regression analysis and a new dataset available through Dun & Bradstreet. The analysis employs a firm-specific, difference-in-differences design which controls for trends and specifically identifies multistate firms which might be affected by combined reporting. Specifically, the study examines the economic impacts of the recent adoption of combined reporting by four states in terms of sales and employment changes, moves, births, and deaths. The theoretical scope of the paper uses the economics literature on location choice, combined with traditional tax optimization concepts from the accounting and economics literature.

The results suggest that combined reporting does in fact reduce investment in a state in terms of employment and births, deaths, and moves, and this effect is largest for in-state-based firms. From a policy perspective, this may imply that (ceteris paribus) there is an incentive for firms to move their headquarters/major operations out of combined reporting states and into separate reporting states. Given the recent trend for states to adopt combined reporting, the findings may be important. While imposition of combined reporting may increase state tax revenues, states should also consider that such policies may hurt locally based firms and reduce employment, much more so than for out-of-state-based firms. While firms’ location/expansion decisions are clearly also a function of nontax factors, the results here are broadly consistent with literature reviews which conclude that state business taxes do have an impact on business decision-making.

In addition to contributing to the literature on the economic effects of combined reporting for state income tax purposes, this study also introduces the tax research community to a newly available dataset from Dun and Bradstreet that contains precise locational firm and establishment data for public and private firms, as well as data on births, deaths, and moves. The data allows clear identification of firms that are multistate, as well as affiliate information (including exact name and location of parent); type of legal entity; employment; sales; CEO minority information; government contract data; import/export status; foreign ownership; credit data from D&B and Paydex; and other useful data.

We examine whether variations in the most fundamental aspects of state corporate income tax regimes affect state economic activity as measured by personal income, gross state product, and total non-farm employment. We focus on a variety of statutory components of state corporate income taxes that apply broadly in most U.S. states and for most multi-state corporate taxpayers. Our econometric strategy consists of a series of fixed effects panel regressions using state-level data from 1996 through 2010. Our results reveal important interaction effects of tax rates and policies, suggesting that policy makers should avoid making decisions about tax rates in isolation. The results demonstrate a relatively consistent negative economic response to the combination of high tax rates with throwback rules and heavy sales factor weights. Combined reporting has no discernible effect on personal income, GSP, or employment after controlling for tax rates, apportionment, and throwback rules. In an effort to gauge the relative impacts of tax policies on the location of economic activity, we also estimate alternative models in which each state’s economic activity is measured as a share of the national economic activity in each year. Statistically significant effects for tax rates, apportionment formulas, and throwback rules in the shares models suggest that at least some of their impact involves the movement of activity across state lines, thereby leaving open the possibility of a zero-sum game among the states.

There are still many different theoretical approaches and practical interpretations about what an integrated report is. Starting from this premise, the overall purpose of this chapter is to critically analyze the relationship between integrated reporting (IR) and social/sustainability disclosure. Indeed, although some scholars considered IR as a tool to improve the sustainability approach of the companies allowing to disclose more relevant social information, others are more critical about the potentiality of IR to improve social disclosure. Therefore, the general research question is: Is there a natural link between IR and social disclosure (true love) or is the IR a practice to “normalize” the social disclosure and accounting (forced marriage)?

In the attempt to provide a preliminary answer to the research question, the chapter analyzes what is the approach of three categories: (1) academics; (2) soft-regulators; and (3) companies. From the methodological point of view, a mixed method of analysis has been adopted.

From the analysis of the three different points of view, IR can be considered as a “contested concept” because of the heterogeneous and sometimes conflicting interpretations and implementation that are done on this type of report. This leads to relevant theoretical and practical implications.

This chapter explores how one company's disclosure contributes to and reflects the broader discourse of environmentalism over time. We select some of Noranda's earliest environmental reports, 1990, 1992 and 1994, and some of its recent sustainable development reports, 2000, 2002 and 2004. Using Eder's framework (1996), we undertake a discourse analysis along three dimensions: moral responsibility, empirical objectivity and aesthetic judgement. This analysis is then linked to environmental philosophy perspectives as per Gray et al. (1996). Even though Noranda's disclosure changes significantly, the reports reflect a mixture of environmental philosophies that remains relatively constant with the social contract perspective being dominant.

Public-interest entities – among which are listed companies – are obliged to publish nonfinancial disclosure in some countries and regions. The European Commission established mandatory nonfinancial disclosure by Directive 2014/95/EU. While a large body of literature was developed on sustainability reporting quality (SRQ) in voluntary context, evidence about the effect of mandatory nonfinancial disclosure on SRQ is controversial and previous experiences worldwide did not make clear if obligatoriness improves SRQ. This chapter aims to bridge the gap of empirical evidence about this phenomenon in European countries, focusing on first implementation of new legislation by Italian and German companies. The research has an explorative character and it adopts content analysis methods performed on sustainability reporting practices of companies listed in FTSE-MIB and DAX 30. The analysis aims to understand if obligatoriness affects SRQ, causes some changes in reporting practices such as harmonizing Italian and German ones by performing a cross-country comparison. The findings suggest that obligatoriness improves reporting quality and, above all, it fills the gap between different countries by fostering the adoption of international guidelines and the consequent introduction of some content, such as materiality analysis and quantitative measures of social and environmental performance.

True to form, it is no surprise that ‘public interest entity’ (which, by EC requirement, must include all listed companies but other entities only at the discretion of individual member states) has been defined in the United Kingdom in the minimal permissible way – it excludes large privately held companies, mutuals, large professional partnerships and so on – about all of which the public has a real interest – as the current financial crisis has clearly shown. Think, for instance, of the need to widen choice in the audit market.

To achieve sustainable development objectives, managers are encouraged to implement best practices in corporate social and environmental responsibility within their establishments. The main objective of this chapter is to assess the quality of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) communication for Moroccan financial institutions. This chapter is devoted to the content analysis of the annual reports of 14 financial institutions listed in Morocco regarding ESG strategies between 2017 and 2021. The reference assessment tool we used is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards (2016), based on six principles. Each principle contains requirements and guidance on how to apply it. These principles are summarized in the following: Accuracy, Balance, Clarity, Comparability, Reliability, and Timeliness. The sample is composed of 14 financial institutions listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange. After checking the content of the annual reports of listed Moroccan financial institutions, we detected several shortcomings in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting behavior. Companies avoid disclosing information about negative events and performance. We saw this as a bad sign for stakeholders. The results showed a significant gap between the GRI standards and the content of the annual reports. These weaknesses mainly concern accuracy, comparability, and, timeliness, hence the need to carry out corrective measures to improve the quality of ESG practices within Moroccan financial institutions. One of the limitations of this research is its focus on financial institutions. However, it is possible to broaden the scope of the research by assessing the quality of ESG communication for nonfinancial companies.

This chapter explains a group assignment implemented for the United States and Irish students where the goal was to reflect real-world teams and communication addressing a global tax ethics issue. Students first completed a case on a corporation’s tax avoidance strategy and submitted individual write-ups. Then they were assigned to groups with the United States and Irish members and exchanged write-ups, planned and executed an international meeting using technology, and submitted a group written assignment about the case and their experience. Post-assignment survey data show that several learning objectives were met. The authors encourage faculty to carry out similar assignments, and the chapter includes recommendations for doing so. This chapter highlights the group work, cooperative learning, and ethics underpinnings of this initial project. The conclusion explains future plans for theoretically grounded research to investigate the team process and what members can learn from team experiences.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to reveal the opinions of the auditors, academicians, and institutions that published integrated reports regarding the development and execution of the assurance process of integrated reports.

Design/methodology/approach: For this purpose, interviews were conducted using qualitative research technique to determine awareness about integrated reporting and combined assurance. Within the scope of the research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six auditors, five academicians, and five workers in institutions that published integrated reports. Qualitative data analysis method was used to analyze the data.

Findings: As a result of the research, combined assurance process criteria were proposed in the integrated reports which in line with the opinions of the participants.

Originality/value: Institutions around the world are increasingly publishing integrated reports. However, when institutions publish integrated reports, there is no clear standard or any guidance on how to ensure the reliability of these reports. It is seen that AA1000, ISAE3000, GRI Standards, and some local standards are used to provide assurance. At this point, the combined assurance model can be used for the reliability of the information in the integrated reports. Integrated reporting and combined assurance are still relatively new concepts in Turkey. Furthermore, this study is important in terms of the lack of studies on how to provide combined assurance for integrated report when scanned related literature in Turkey. Although readily integrated reporting continued in Turkey, it continues to be an area of application is still under development. In particular, the research reflects the level of integrated reporting awareness and how to ensure assurance of these reports.