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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.

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 propose a longitudinal analysis of motivations for Integrated Reporting (IR) adoption, internal changes, the benefits of IR implementation and compliance challenges.

The authors analyse a longitudinal case study of an Italian-listed company (Eni) participating in the IR-Pilot Programme (PP) and covering 10 years of IR adoption. The analysis was based on a mixed-method approach that included semi-structured interviews, content analysis of annual reports and triangulation with other data sources. Results are discussed regarding institutional theory, legitimacy theory and diffusion of innovation theory.

The study suggests that motivations for adopting IR change over time and participation in the IR-PP helps Eni acquire a comprehensive and substantial integrated view of value creation over time, makes integrated culture a key factor for strategic business sustainability and confirms the readiness of early adopters to comply with the non-financial Directive (NFD).

This study, among the few longitudinal case studies, provides organisations, regulators and academics with insights into the motivations driving the successful adoption and implementation of IR and the NFD. The results may help companies consider one of the tools currently deemed to bring sustainability into action and participation in pilot groups.

This study aims to explore the association between chief executive officer (CEO) tenure and the quality of information disclosed through integrated reporting quality (IRQ), which combines financial and non-financial data. The authors also investigate how formal (e.g. board independence and gender diversity) and informal (e.g. corporate culture) governance mechanisms influence this association. By analysing these factors, the authors expect to provide valuable insights on the impact of CEO tenure and governance structures on the comprehensive nature of integrated reporting.

This study uses a sample of the top 200 Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed companies from 2015 to 2019. IRQ is measured through levels of compliance with the integrated reporting (IR) framework proposed by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). The hypotheses are tested using multiple regression analyses.

The authors find that CEO tenure is negatively associated with IRQ. Furthermore, CEO tenure has a more positive influence on IRQ in the early CEO tenure years than later ones. The authors' study finds that the association between CEO tenure and IRQ is insignificant when firms have a high level of monitoring, as measured by board independence and gender diversity. The authors also document that competitive corporate culture moderates the negative association between CEO tenure and IRQ.

The authors' study highlights the significant impact of internal formal and informal governance mechanisms on disclosure practices in Australia's voluntary IR environment. By shedding light on these factors, the authors' research enhances understanding of Australian companies' IR practices and offers valuable insights for scholars, policymakers and practitioners in the field.

This study aims to investigate the nonfinancial information related to capitals (intellectual, human, social and relationship, and natural) demanded by professional investors in their decision-making process, which can improve the usefulness of integrated reporting for this target audience.

A Systematic Literature Review in the Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases enabled the identification of information demanded by professional investors. This information was presented to experienced Brazilian investors participating in a focus group to align the theory on this topic with professional practice.

The results allow us to conclude that the focus group participants' perception is aligned with the international literature, both in the importance given to most of the nonfinancial information items identified and in the lack of interest in using integrated reporting in investment decisions. Nonetheless, the general perception of the focus group is not aligned with the literature procedures in terms of social and environmental information.

A study with a larger scope and the adoption of other approaches can contribute to broaden the understanding of the perspectives of professional investors in Brazil, as well as in other regions.

The authors provide evidence that contributes to discussions about the information to be disclosed in integrated reports. Their results are useful to legislators, regulators, report preparers and investors.

The authors investigate the information demanded by professional investors in their decision-making process aiming to fill the literature gap relating the determinants of the integrated reporting disclosure and what is demanded by this target audience as a minimum content to be reported. As an additional result they offer interesting contributions to the literature providing reflections on nonfinancial information which have become important for Brazilian investors as from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aims to offer empirical evidence on how integrated thinking affects the integrated reporting (IR) practice and how integrated thinking originates from board and management involvement, cross-functional integration and integral link between capitals and strategies.

This study is cross-sectional and uses a mixed-method approach. The empirical data for the quantitative approach were collected from the 129 public companies listed on Colombo Stock Exchange in Sri Lanka. The personale responsible for preparing the annual report are selected as the respondents of this study. This study used partial least square modelling to test the hypotheses. The quantitative approach results are triangulated across a qualitative research approach in semi-structural interviews with ten responsible officers of integrated reporting practices.

The central finding of this study is the significant positive relationship between integrated thinking and integrated reporting practice. The qualitative results supported the quantitative findings and show that board and management involvement, cross-functional integration and integral link between capital and strategy enhance the integrated reporting practice. Top management and board management have positive beliefs about the integrated reporting practice; they initiate, encourage, influence, involve and support it. Furthermore, all company departments are involved with the integrated reporting led by the finance department and practice good coordination, communication and collaboration between departments. Moreover, it also evidenced their concern about the linkage between capital and strategy and how they do it in their organisation when practising integrated reporting.

The firms which intend to practice or enhance integrated reporting will be benefited from this study. Hence, this research assists in constructing IT through the direct role of the board and senior leadership, breaking down silos to diffuse IR throughout structures and processes, and concentrating on strategies while managing their capitals and relationships over the long term.

This study provides the initial quantitative empirical evidence on the impact of integrated thinking on integrated reporting practice. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to operationalise both integrated thinking and integrated reporting based on a questionnaire that developed and tested both constructs as higher-order reflective formative and on the relationship between integrated thinking and integrated reporting. The mixed-method approach to examine the relationship between integrated thinking and integrated reporting provides additional insights into the existing literature.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the adoption and quality of integrated reports in the European Union (EU).

The sample consists of 147 listed firms from the 18 EU countries during 2013–2020. This study creates a disclosure index – based on the balanced scorecard (BSC) that reflects the information content of integrated reports. The content analysis method is used to measure the integrated reporting quality (IRQ).

The findings demonstrate that the IRQ increased across the study’s time frame, going from 49.3% in 2013 to 77% in 2020. Furthermore, financial disclosures still get the most attention in the integrated reporting (IR), followed by learning and growth perspective disclosures. In addition, businesses in the financial and industrial sectors rely more on integrated reports. However, the utility sector has the highest IRQ score. By country, Spain has the highest rate of IR adoption, followed by France. Other countries, such as Austria and Hungary, have only implemented IR by one company each.

This study adds to the IR literature a new approach to measure IRQ by linking BSC with the IR framework. Empirically, businesses of any size can use this method to assess the degree of balance between the revealed financial and nonfinancial information in their reports.

Empirically, this study helps IR practitioners in determining how widely IR is used in Europe and in updating the database on the IR website. It helps them update and improve the IR framework by identifying the elements that have the least transparency and quality, investigating the causes and enhancing them.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the IRQ in EU countries by linking the BSC with IR elements. This is to split the elements into their own pillars, making it easier to track disclosure and evaluate the corporations’ interest in revealing these perspectives, on their own and collectively.

This study aims to examine the determinants and consequences of integrated reporting (IR) disclosures of listed non-financial firms in an emerging economy.

This study uses data from 39 listed non-financial firms that had adopted IR disclosure framework in Sri Lanka for the period from 2011 to 2018. Firm size, growth opportunity, profitability and firm age are considered significant determinants of IR disclosure, while their consequences are measured in terms of share price, Tobin’s Q, return on assets and return on equity. The authors used the results of the correlation and panel regression analyses to draw this study’s conclusions.

This study finds that firm size and age are the significant determinants of IR disclosure, which is consistent with this study’s expectations. Considering the consequences of IR disclosure, only share price and Tobin’s Q show significant results as per the panel regression analyses.

The findings of this study would be useful in the decision-making processes of existing and prospective investors, regulators, policymakers and society at large. Further, the findings of this study communicate the benefits of this new reporting paradigm in shaping their disclosures in the annual corporate reporting process.

Although existing studies attempted to examine the determinants of IR disclosure and its consequences as isolated studies, this study provides new insights by merging these two aspects into a single study and consider several determinants and consequences as well.

This study aims to investigate the quality of disclosure of a cutting-edge reporting tool – integrated reporting (<IR>) – in terms of its effectiveness to report on COVID-19 pandemic information, its ability to provide forward-looking information and risk impact implications, and its quality determinants in challenging times.

Thanks to a content analysis of 247 <IR> for FY20, an integrated reporting disclosure score was developed to assess the disclosure quality provided by the sampled companies. Three research questions were tested through logistic regressions.

Non-financial disclosure activities struggle to provide adequate information in terms of potential future scenarios, risk assessment and forward-looking analyses. However, companies incorporated in “Anglo-Saxon” territories drafted integrated reports of higher quality. More recently, incorporated companies have made a greater effort to measure and report COVID-19 pandemic impacts on environmental, social and governance and business activities, also increasing their risk assessment and mitigation efforts. Concerning the determinants of disclosure quality, leverage, corporate governance structures, country of incorporation and belonging to “high impact” industries all lead to a higher quality of <IR> disclosure.

Examining in detail corporate social responsibility activities and corporate governance integrity is pivotal to orienting strategy towards sustainable trajectories: to do so, corporate reporting and disclosure practices are essential tools. In this context, corporate governance systems that emphasize board diversity are proven, even in disruptive circumstances, to play a crucial role in providing corporate reports of higher quality. High disclosure quality that goes beyond mere financial results is considered to be necessary to remain competitive strategically, socially and environmentally.

This paper aims to explore the nonfinancial drivers of value creation that influence an investment decision and present a set of drivers that contribute with a useful integrated reporting to its providers of financial capital using evidence from Brazil.

This paper is based on a systematic literature review in the Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases in the period from 2005 to 2020. Interpretive content analysis is used in 42 documents identified to explore nonfinancial drivers to demand by providers of financial capital, which are classified according to the capitals nonfinancial suggested by the integrated report (IR). Then, the results are evaluated by Brazilian professional investors in a focus group.

The members of the focus group do not consider the IR relevant to investment decision and neither the information about natural capital nor social capital. They highlighted two nonfinancial drivers of value not identified in the previous literature.

The focus group is limited by subjects’ availability and by the participants’ number. But its results represent initial discussions on the subject in the Brazilian context.

The results of this study have value, principally, to investors, target audience of IR, because it aligns your demands with the IRs content, improving its usefulness.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this manuscript is the first study to investigate the perception of Brazilian professional investors about the importance of the IR in investment decision-making and to identify content relevant to the financial capital provider’s investment decision, which can improve the usefulness of IR.