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Integrated reporting enhances the meaningfulness of non-financial information, but whether this enhancement is progressive or regressive from a sustainability perspective is unknown. This study aims to examine the influence of the Integrated Reporting (<IR>) Framework on the disclosure of financial- and impact-material sustainability-related information in integrated reports.

Using a disclosure index constructed from the Global Reporting Initiative’s G4 Guidelines and UN Sustainable Development Goals, the authors content analysed integrated reports of 40 companies from the International Integrated Reporting Council’s Pilot Programme Business Network published between 2015 and 2017. The content analysis distinguished between financial- and impact-material sustainability-related information.

The extent of sustainability-related disclosures in integrated reports remained more or less constant over the study period. Impact-material disclosures were more prominent than financial material ones. Impact-material disclosures mainly related to environmental aspects, while labour practices-related disclosures were predominantly financially material. The balance between financially- and impact-material sustainability-related disclosures varied based on factors such as industry environmental sensitivity and country-specific characteristics, such as the country’s legal system and development status.

The paper presents a unique disclosure index to distinguish between financially- and impact-material sustainability-related disclosures. Researchers can use this disclosure index to critically examine the nature of sustainability-related disclosure in corporate reports.

This study offers an in-depth understanding of the influence of non-financial reporting frameworks, such as the <IR> Framework that uses a financial materiality perspective, on sustainability reporting. The findings reveal that the practical implementation of the <IR> Framework resulted in sustainability reporting outcomes that deviated from theoretical expectations. Exploring the materiality concept that underscores sustainability-related disclosures by companies using the <IR> Framework is useful for predicting the effects of adopting the Sustainability Disclosure Standards issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board, which also emphasises financial materiality.

Despite an emphasis on financial materiality in the <IR> Framework, companies continue to offer substantial impact-material information, implying the potential for companies to balance both financial and broader societal concerns in their reporting.

While prior research has delved into the practices of regulated integrated reporting, especially in the unique context of South Africa, this study focuses on voluntary adoption, attributing observed practices to intrinsic company motivations. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study to explicitly explore the nature of materiality in sustainability-related disclosure. The research also introduces a nuanced understanding of contextual factors influencing sustainability reporting.

The effects of integrated reporting quality (IRQ) have been debated in increasing empirical studies. Several IRQ measures, different theoretical approaches and multiple contexts have been adopted and investigated, leading to mixed results. By using the meta-analytic technique, this study aims to contribute to the accounting literature, reconciling the conflicting results on the effects of IRQ and providing objective conclusions to complement narrative literature reviews.

A sample of 45 empirical papers from 2013 to 2022, with 653 effect sizes, was used to assess the effects associated with IRQ. The papers were clustered into five groups (market reaction, financial performance, cost of capital, financial analysts’ properties and managerial decisions) based on the different consequences of IRQ investigated in the primary studies. A random-effects meta-regression model was used to explore all sources of heterogeneity together.

The meta-regression results confirm that IRQ positively influences firms’ market valuation and financial performance and hampers opportunistic managerial behaviour by improving corporate transparency, mitigating information asymmetry and encouraging accountability. Moreover, differences in the study characteristics affect the strength of the relationship object of interest.

Through meta-analysis, this study provides a broader overview of the effects of IRQ by enhancing the generalisability of the findings. The results also pave the way for additional evidence on the outcome variables affected by the quality of integrated disclosure.

This study aims to investigate the level of reporting compliance in terms of content elements, measure to what extent each content element of the integrated reporting (IR) framework is linked to value creation and demonstrate the relationship between the level of compliance and value creation linkages.

The sample for this study consists of 12 companies, 11 of which are public and 1 is non-public. The data is obtained from the Integrated Reporting Turkey Network founded in 2015 in Turkey. This study applies a holistic approach integrating two different content analysis methods. First, a multi-weighted scoring system is constructed by using the IR content elements and the previously developed indexes in the literature. Second, in-depth, sentence-by-sentence content analysis is used to determine the relation between the content elements and value creation.

The results of the multi-weighted scoring system indicate a high level of compliance in the banking sector. On the other hand, the scores of the content analysis demonstrate higher scores in the disclosures of “basis of preparation and presentation”, “organizational overview and external environment”, “strategy and resource allocation”, “performance” and “business model” elements, while lower scores in the elements of “risk and opportunities” and “outlook.” The lowest compliance level associated with lower content analysis scores may indicate a low level of value creation potential. Consequently, this two-stage scoring is critical, as it clarifies the relation between compliance level and the explanatory power of each content element from a value creation perspective.

This study aims to support the policymakers and regulators in highlighting the importance of measuring and reporting value. Furthermore, it intends to encourage companies to produce reports that increase the value relevance of accounting information to contribute to the development of capital markets. The current literature includes research that mainly concentrates only on the quality or extent of IR disclosure practices. This study offers a combined analysis that helps to determine at what level a company has accomplished the expectations of the International Integrated Reporting Council in terms of both the content and the value creation potential.

This study aims to explore the process of identifying and defining multiple capitals in the integrated report (IR) of a government-owned tourism company.

Interventionist research was conducted using a case study design. The researcher was directly involved in developing the first IR of Zètema, a heritage and tourism company owned by the Municipality of Rome. The research team analyzed internal reports, business model (BM), strategic plan and marketing plan, and collected data through semistructured interviews and participation in company meetings.

A template based on a step-by-step deductive process to select and define relevant capitals was derived. Following this process, an appropriate form of capital emerged: “cultural capital”. Furthermore, this study emphasizes a novel awareness of the different meanings that capitals can assume as inputs and outcomes of a BM.

This study meets the demand for empirical research that investigates real information in integrated reports intended for those for whom value is created. Thus, the paper contributes to the existing knowledge on integrated reporting by examining the partially explored concept of capital, particularly its identification process. Furthermore, this study provides support to preparers of integrated reports by defining a conceptual reference model for the disclosure of significant capitals and underlining the importance of distinguishing capitals as input or outcome.

Analyzing the impact of integrated reporting (IR) on international firms' value relevance, considering diverse information such as income, cash flows, risks, uncertainties and various capitals.

This paper used a sample of 300 international companies between 2010 and 2019. This paper collected the data from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database. Quantitative methods were used to test the hypotheses. Furthermore, the feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) method was performed to test the hypotheses.

The results suggest that IR and value relevance positively correlate, confirming the hypothesis. Moreover, this paper verified these results by conducting robustness tests on the contribution of the framework and guidelines prepared by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) in 2013.

This study enables users to evaluate company transparency and the relevance of disclosed nonfinancial information, providing valuable insights for report preparers and investors seeking profitable opportunities.

The interest in this research was motivated by the authors’ research field, which is innovative, as few studies have been conducted to explain the relationship between IR and value relevance. Similarly, this paper incorporated into their analysis the importance of the framework created by the IIRC in 2013 in preparing and presenting an integrated report. This paper considered the contribution of this framework to the creation of information content. This design has been overlooked in previous studies. However, this paper mobilized the FGLS method, which has been little used in previous studies.

This study aims to evaluate the relationship between integrated reporting and management’s opportunistic behavior (i.e., accrual and real earnings management) and the moderating role of firm complexity.

Data of firms at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange were collected and analyzed. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange is currently the primary exchange that mandates the practice of integrated reporting. Regression estimation models and robustness tests were applied to the analysis.

This study concludes that integrated reporting quality reduces firms’ accrual and real earnings management practices. It further concludes that the significant negative effect of integrated reporting quality on firms’ earnings management practices is impeded by higher firm complexity.

This study enhances the literature on the behavioral effect of a combined financial and sustainability disclosure practice on both accrual and real earnings management, specifically targeting South Africa’s listed companies – the primary market currently mandates integrated reporting practice.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between integrated reporting, environmental innovation and the mediating effect of shareholder scores within the context of Japan.

SEM on panel data are used to study the impact of the role of shareholder scores in mediating the effect of integrated reporting on environmental innovation. This empirical study was based on a sample of 420 companies operating in Japan for the period spanning 2010 and 2022.

Drawing upon empirical results, this research uncovers the pivotal role of the shareholder's score as a mediating factor in this relationship. A higher shareholder score signifies a governance structure that values shareholder input and fairness in treatment. Empowered shareholders leverage their influence to advocate for transparent reporting practices that encompass environmental considerations. Consequently, firms with elevated shareholder scores are more inclined toward environmental innovation, aligning their strategies with sustainability imperatives.

The findings contribute to understanding of how corporate governance mechanisms, particularly shareholder empowerment, interact with reporting practices to drive environmental initiatives, providing valuable implications for sustainable business practices globally.

Integrated reporting (IR) has been proposed to “reform” corporate financial statements, fill gaps in existing reporting practices and provide a better understanding of financial and nonfinancial information in an integrated manner. The purpose of this study aims to provide empirical evidence of the role of IR in mediating the effect of ownership structure on firm performance.

Structural equation modeling on panel data are used to study the impact of the role of IR in mediating the effect of ownership structure on firm performance. The present empirical study was based on a sample of 431 European firms belonging to common or civil law between 2012 and 2020.

Based on empirical results, this study shows that IR plays a mediating role in the relationship between ownership structure attributes (ownership concentration, institutional ownership and managerial ownership) and the performance of European common law firms. In civil law countries, it only has a mediating effect on the relationship between institutional ownership and performance.

This study provides evidence for IR, ownership structure and firm performance. This chapter highlights the global need for a generally accepted set of standards for sustainability and IR practices.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the link between external audit quality and integrated reporting (IR) quality in the Jordanian market, a developing market. Furthermore, the research model considers the mediating effect of earnings management practices and the moderating effect of board gender diversity. As a result, it intends to provide further empirical evidence in this area.

This research investigates its model using data from Jordanian services companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) during the period 2013–2022. With 430 company-year observations, the current research’s sample includes all companies in the research population for which complete data were available during the period under investigation. Data relevant to the research setting were obtained from annual disclosures and the ASE's database.

The findings of this research show that audit firm size and audit firm specialty have a positive influence on IR quality, but audit firm tenure does not. External audit quality (as proxied by the size, specialty and turnover of the audit firm) had a negative impact on earnings management practices, while earnings management practices had a negative impact on IR quality. Additionally, the findings reveal that earnings management practices completely mediate the relationship between two external audit quality proxies (audit firm size and audit firm specialty) and IR quality. Furthermore, in terms of the moderating impact of board gender diversity, it is obvious that board gender diversity favorably moderates the relationships between all external audit quality proxies and IR quality.

Using agency theory and stakeholder theory, this investigation fills a gap in previous literature by adding scientific explanations and empirical evidence from the Jordanian market, a developing market, in the context of the impact of audit quality on IR quality, mediated by earnings management and moderated by board gender diversity.

The purpose of this research is to verify whether the disclosure of intellectual capital (IC) positively affects the level of integration of financial and sustainability information.

The sample of the analysis relies on European public companies. The data were gathered from Refinitiv, focussing on a multi-year observation from 2013 to 2021 and performing a fixed-effect regression. According to the extant literature, the authors developed the Intellectual Capital Score and the Integrated Thinking and Reporting Score.

The more disclosure of IC, the more financial and sustainability information is integrated. Indeed, the results confirm that the disclosure of IC enhances the level of integration of financial and sustainability information.

The study enriches academic knowledge about IC in conjunction with integrated reporting (IR) and integrated thinking by highlighting its relevance in the value-creation process and acting as a trait d’union of the disciplines.

For standard setters, the research may be framed to redefine the guidelines explaining the information on IC to be disclosed. Moreover, it could be helpful for practitioners when identifying the IC information that deserves to be disclosed, other than being exploitable to conduct enterprises geared towards adopting integrated reports.

This study answers the call for further research on the relationship between financial information and sustainability information to highlight their joint perspectives quantitatively.