Search results
1 – 10 of 180Barbara Borgato and Pier Luigi Marchini
The purpose of this paper is to explore the practice of integrated reporting (IR) assurance from the auditors’ point of view, including the main challenges to be addressed and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the practice of integrated reporting (IR) assurance from the auditors’ point of view, including the main challenges to be addressed and insights on evolution and potential new assurance approaches.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on an exploratory research design, the paper conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 expert auditors, accounting assurance providers and non-accounting assurance providers, in the Italian context, combining an open coding approach with an axial coding approach, and using a three-stage process to organize data.
Findings
Respondents confirmed that current IR practices do not represent a real paradigm shift and that the need for in-depth changes in the assurance approach will depend on how these practices evolve. The main challenges highlighted are the absence of suitable criteria, the difficulty of assuring narratives and future-oriented information, and the low level of maturity of internal systems and processes of companies and stakeholders. Proposals for overcoming these challenges are framed mainly within current assurance models, although some respondents pointed out the need for a shift towards new assurance approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The paper relies on a small sample of well-informed subjects active in Italy; thus, the results may not represent the views of all auditors.
Practical implications
The findings identify areas that practitioners and assurance provider firms should focus on, looking to IR assurance and its growing importance and application as a future business area. They may be useful to standard setters and regulators to better understand limits and opportunities of requiring IR assurance on specific information not strictly related to financial information, and for the development of guidance or standards for IR assurance.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the currently underexplored area of IR assurance. Relatively few studies have investigated this topic from an empirical point of view, and no study involving auditors has been carried out in the Italian context.
Details
Keywords
Pierre Donatella, Mattias Haraldsson and Torbjörn Tagesson
This paper focuses on the extent to which Swedish municipalities identified and communicated risks due to the COVID-19 outbreak early on. The purpose of this paper is to explore…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper focuses on the extent to which Swedish municipalities identified and communicated risks due to the COVID-19 outbreak early on. The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent the situational factors of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the likelihood of municipalities disclosing COVID-19 information as a subsequent event in the annual reports of 2019.
Design/methodology/approach
Logistic regression models were used to estimate COVID-19 disclosure as a subsequent event. Data were handpicked from annual reports, audit reports and meeting minutes, or were retrieved from publicly available sources.
Findings
Regression results indicate that municipalities issuing their annual report in a later stage of the pandemic, in regions with a higher number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, were more likely to disclose COVID-19 information as a subsequent event. However, the municipal factors used to capture the risk of a severe impact of the COVID-19 outbreak were not of major importance. In line with previous research, this study shows that political and institutional factors have explanatory power in predicting and explaining accounting disclosure choices.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to research on accounting disclosures in urgent crises and on the specific topic of subsequent events in the public sector. Few studies address subsequent events in a corporate setting and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, none do so in the context of the public sector. This paper also offers insight into how explanatory factors, previously tested under normal conditions and circumstances, influence disclosure choices in an early stage of a health crisis characterized by uncertainty regarding both occurrence and consequences.
Details
Keywords
Recent literature in the field of knowledge management (e.g. Nonaka and Takeuchi, 2021) asks for new, future-oriented approaches to strategy that allow us to deal with an…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent literature in the field of knowledge management (e.g. Nonaka and Takeuchi, 2021) asks for new, future-oriented approaches to strategy that allow us to deal with an increasingly complex world. Thus, this paper aims to build an approach to exploit aesthetics (human’s sensory perceptions and their felt meanings) to sense an organizations purpose and realize it by means of organizational strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
Conceptual paper, providing a new perspective on the perception of Organizational Purpose. The abductive argument follows Weick’s notion of Disciplined Imagination (Weick, 1989).
Findings
The main argument of this paper is that aesthetics contribute to the identification of organizational purpose. Thus, aesthetic perceptions can inform strategy to implement a stakeholders’ sense of purpose into strategy.
Research limitations/implications
The argument presented is grounded in recent literature on the concepts of purpose and aesthetics and abductive in nature. Thus, empirical research to validate the argument would be beneficial and worthwhile to be undertaken.
Practical implications
The paper presents the idea to integrate the sense of organizational purpose into a corporate strategy to address stakeholders’ value expectations and build more sustainable organizations. By emphasizing aesthetics, the study takes a stand for the inclusion of nonrational knowledge in organizational decision-making.
Originality/value
As far as the author’s knowledge goes, the concepts of aesthetics and organizational purpose have not theoretically been connected to each other. However, due to the implicit nature of purpose, aesthetics may serve as the matching knowledge tool to work with organizational purpose.
Details
Keywords
Riccardo Stacchezzini, Cristina Florio, Alice Francesca Sproviero and Silvano Corbella
This paper aims to explore the reporting challenges and related organisational mechanisms of change associated with disclosing corporate risks within integrated reports.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the reporting challenges and related organisational mechanisms of change associated with disclosing corporate risks within integrated reports.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a Latourian performative approach to explore the organisational mechanisms of change in terms of networks of actors, both “human” and “non-human”, involved in the preparation of risk-related disclosure. Empirical evidence is collected by means of in-depth interviews with the preparers of an integrated reporting pioneer company.
Findings
Preparing disclosure on corporate risks in the context of integrated reporting demands close interaction among several actors. When disclosure shifts from listing key risks to providing information on how these risks are managed or connect with corporate strategy and value creation, departments not usually involved in corporate reporting play an active role and external stakeholders offer pertinent insights, benchmarks and feedback. Integrated reporting and risk management frameworks are the “non-human” actors that facilitate the engagement of diverse “human” actors.
Practical implications
Preparers should be aware that risk disclosure within integrated reports requires collaboration among (“human”) actors belonging to different departments and the engagement of external stakeholders. Preparers should consider the frameworks of integrated reporting and risk management as facilitators of cross-departmental discussions and dialogue, rather than mere contributors of guidelines and recommendations.
Originality/value
This study enriches the scant literature on organisational mechanisms of change made in response to integrated reporting challenges, showing subsequent advancements in the organisational process underlying the preparation of risk disclosure.
Details
Keywords
Mostafa Kamal Hassan and Fathia Elleuch Lahyani
This study aims to investigate the effect of media coverage, negative media tone and the interaction between negative media tone and independent non-executive directors (INEDs) on…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the effect of media coverage, negative media tone and the interaction between negative media tone and independent non-executive directors (INEDs) on strategic information disclosure (SD).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors rely on media agenda-setting theory, agency theory and a panel data set of 52 UAE non-financial listed firms from 2009 to 2016. Multivariate regressions examine the effect of media coverage and negative media tone on SD and examine the moderation of INEDs on the effect of negative media tone on SD while controlling for firm size, board size, board meeting frequency, firm profitability and leverage.
Findings
The results show that negative media tone has a negative effect on SD, and there is no association between media coverage and SD. The results show that INEDs are negatively associated with SD and have a negative moderating effect on the negative media tone–SD relationship. INEDs follow a conservative approach, encouraging less SD when their firms face negative media tone.
Research limitations/implications
The authors measured media coverage and negative media tone by the number of news articles. In the robustness test, they use media tone score. They measured SD using an index that captures firm strategy dimensions. Though these measures are inherently subjective, they were used to measure variation in media coverage, media tone and SD across listed UAE non-financial firms. Mitigation of subjectivity was achieved through rigorous cross-checking measurements.
Practical implications
Findings assist UAE policymakers and the international business community with insights related to articulation of media to SD and INEDs’ role in moderating the effect of media on SD.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that combines media agenda-setting theory with agency theory and SD in an emerging market economy (the UAE). The study is also among the few studies that illustrate the possible role of INEDs under different media tones in emerging markets.
Details
Keywords
Henri Hussinki, Tatiana King, John Dumay and Erik Steinhöfel
In 2000, Cañibano et al. published a literature review entitled “Accounting for Intangibles: A Literature Review”. This paper revisits the conclusions drawn in that paper. We also…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2000, Cañibano et al. published a literature review entitled “Accounting for Intangibles: A Literature Review”. This paper revisits the conclusions drawn in that paper. We also discuss the intervening developments in scholarly research, standard setting and practice over the past 20+ years to outline the future challenges for research into accounting for intangibles.
Design/methodology/approach
We conducted a literature review to identify past developments and link the findings to current accounting standard-setting developments to inform our view of the future.
Findings
Current intangibles accounting practices are conservative and unlikely to change. Accounting standard setters are more interested in how companies report and disclose the value of intangibles rather than changing how they are determined. Standard setters are also interested in accounting for new forms of digital assets and reporting economic, social, governance and sustainability issues and how these link to financial outcomes. The IFRS has released complementary sustainability accounting standards for disclosing value creation in response to the latter. Therefore, the topic of intangibles stretches beyond merely how intangibles create value but how they are also part of a firm’s overall risk and value creation profile.
Practical implications
There is much room academically, practically, and from a social perspective to influence the future of accounting for intangibles. Accounting standard setters and alternative standards, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and European Union non-financial and sustainability reporting directives, are competing complementary initiatives.
Originality/value
Our results reveal a window of opportunity for accounting scholars to research and influence how intangibles and other non-financial and sustainability accounting will progress based on current developments.
Details
Keywords
Many companies in Indonesia already have completed sustainability reporting (SR) in their corporate reporting eventhough the regulation has not required public companies to…
Abstract
Many companies in Indonesia already have completed sustainability reporting (SR) in their corporate reporting eventhough the regulation has not required public companies to disclose Integrated Reporting (IR) in their report. Are companies with excellent sustainability reporting ready to release integrated reporting? This question is the main concern of this paper. The published guidelines by IIRC are divided into two categories: guidelines which can be assessed objectively and those that cannot be measured objectively. Content analysis is used for data collection and analysis for annual reports of the companies used as sample in this research. The result of this research showed that companies that won Indonesia Sustainability Reporting Award are ready to disclose Integrated Reporting with few modification which adds the value of their report. The implication of the study for public companies is a encouragement to publish integrated reporting and for researchers is being preliminary research for developing research about integrated report in Indonesia.
Babarindé René Aderomou and McBride Nkhalamba
Establishing integrated reporting and thinking within mainstream business practice as the norm in the public and private sectors is fundamental. Corporate governance assessment in…
Abstract
Establishing integrated reporting and thinking within mainstream business practice as the norm in the public and private sectors is fundamental. Corporate governance assessment in the APRM Country Review Reports is not done in a way to enable more decision-useful reporting. This policy brief urges APRM's consultants to adopt a particular approach to frame corporate governance assessment. By adopting an inductive qualitative approach, retrieving academic articles and institutions' reports from the literature, this study develops a novel framework to ensure more reliability, completeness, consistency and comparability in the Country Review reporting. It is contended that such reporting can assist the APRM Country Review Missions in corporate governance assessment.
Details
Keywords
Martin H. Kunc, Maria Cleofe Giorgino and Federico Barnabè
According to the “strategic focus and future orientation” principle of the integrated reporting (<IR>) framework, <IR> should provide information useful to support investors in…
Abstract
Purpose
According to the “strategic focus and future orientation” principle of the integrated reporting (<IR>) framework, <IR> should provide information useful to support investors in assessing the future financial performance of organizations. This study aims to support the operationalization of this function by improving the forward-looking orientation of the integrated report.
Design/methodology/approach
Basing on the backward- and forward-looking disclosure in <IR> and the dynamic resource-based view (DRBV), this study develops an explorative case study building a quantitative simulation model based on an integrated report.
Findings
This study provides useful insights into how operationalizing the <IR> “future orientation” and obtaining more quantitative information on the organization’s capacity to create value in the future by applying DRBV and quantitative simulation modeling.
Research limitations/implications
The article presents one case study to explore the method suggested to improve the <IR> forward-looking orientation. Additional case studies applying the same research design should be certainly useful to refine the method.
Practical implications
Supporting the <IR> forward-looking orientation, this study provides additional information for the decision-making process of investors, thus contributing to the efficient and productive allocation of capital.
Originality/value
Few studies have investigated forward-looking information in integrated reports, highlighting the existence of an “information gap” referred to such disclosure. Overcoming these previous results, the study provides useful insights on how to improve the <IR> forward-looking orientation.
Details
Keywords
Giacomo Pigatto, Lino Cinquini, Andrea Tenucci and John Dumay
This study is an analysis that aims to understand the rationale behind the concept of value creation contained in the integrated reporting (IR) framework. As such, the authors…
Abstract
Purpose
This study is an analysis that aims to understand the rationale behind the concept of value creation contained in the integrated reporting (IR) framework. As such, the authors examined the quality of the disclosures made in integrated reports by measuring the level to which the six capitals (6Cs) have been integrated into disclosures on value creation.
Design/methodology/approach
The IR framework’s value creation model focuses on six content elements and three guiding principles. Hence, the present analysis combines content analysis with quantitative measures in the form of a bespoke Integrated Disclosure Index. The index measures the level of integration found in the disclosures instead of the mere presence or absence of mentioned capitals, content elements and guiding principles in isolation. The present sample comprised the 2016 integrated/sustainability reports for 184 listed companies sourced from the Integrated Reporting Examples Database.
Findings
The 6Cs are well disclosed in form but only partially disclosed in substance. Further, overall levels of integration between the capitals, the content elements and the guiding principles are higher than average. Disclosures on materiality, business models and stakeholder relationships are somewhat lacking, as are the related medium- and long-term disclosures on outlook.
Practical implications
The paper contributes to the academic debate on IR by building a case for holistically assessing the substance of integrated reports. Considering that the IR value creation model can underpin and align with the 17 UN sustainable development goals, the authors show how the fundamental concept of the 6Cs sustaining value creation is understood and implemented differently across the various elements and principles of the IR framework.
Social implications
This research also provides guidance for overcoming some of the practical hurdles associated with assessing the quality of reports because the authors provide tools for spotlighting the substance of disclosures over their form.
Originality/value
This paper delves into the substance of integrated reports by assessing how well the 6Cs have been integrated into disclosures on the content elements and guiding principles of the IR framework. In contrast to previous IR research that has mainly analysed capital, elements and principles in isolation, the authors develop an index assessing the integration of these three fundamental concepts of IR.
Details