An empirical analysis of stakeholders’ expectations and integrated reporting quality

Within the present-day economic situation ensuring a competitive position coincides with its ability of managing its relationship with the stakeholders regarding the distribution of the added value and setting up of a legit consensus between them and the company itself. The main objectives of the study focus both on identifying the reasons that led to the development of the information transparency in order to satisfy the stakeholders’ expectations within the Integrated Reporting (IR) and on the dynamic analysis of the main economic and financial factors (from a sample of 180 companies quoted on the stock exchange during 2008–2017) that were the foundation of the statistical design for evaluating the companies’ ability to satisfy the stakeholders’ expectations. The research methods refer to identifying those evaluation methods in terms of the IR’s quality and compliance regarding the stakeholders’ expectations based on the analysis of the database and the econometric model. The final results can be very useful both for those companies that are already using or will choose to apply the IR in the near future and for the potential stakeholders as they have the option of evaluating before-hand the degree of satisfaction of their expectations in relationship with the reporting company

Mapping Future Trends in Integrated Reporting, CSR and Business Sustainability Research: A Cluster-based Approach

This paper aims to investigate the dependence and independence between the variables inferred in the bibliometric analysis of the literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR), business sustainability (BS), and integrated reporting (IR). In this paper, we undertook a bibliometric analysis with statistical analysis to fulfill the proposed goal, based on scientific papers from 1975 to 2021 indexed by ISI Web of Science and SCOPUS databases on the abovementioned topics. The results are the development of a model for mapping future research directions on IR, CSR, and BS issues using the clustering method. The bibliometric and statistical analysis can help researchers by providing clear guidelines for future studies, depending on the behaviour of research clusters on the IR topic. Previous studies didn’t attempt to analyze future research directions of IR from a bibliometric and statistical standpoint, which should be carefully tracked, because IR can offer support to companies by improving their communication with stakeholders

Determining the criticality profile of manufacturing SMEs under the influence of internal and external factors on performance

Recent economic instability has heightened the need for companies to be aware of the threats in their internal and external environments and the impact these have on their performance capacity. Thus, this paper aims to identify the most impactful factors on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in manufacturing activities in Romania, by conducting empirical questionnaire-based research, resulting in a database with primary data to be processed. A 5-point Likert scale was used to determine the frequency of occurrence and intensity of impact of the selected factors, the level of criticality of these factors being calculated using the mean value method. The results highlight the prevalence of external factors among the top critical factors, those with the most significant impact on the performance being the high cost of raw materials, lack of professionals and specialists, fluctuations in market demand, fluctuations in government policies and legislative regulations. The usefulness of the results obtained lies in the fact that they create a risk or criticality profile of the analyzed production sector, which makes it possible to address its critical points with the most optimal solutions in the given context, on the part of both management and government, thus ensuring increased performance

Empirical study on the impact of evaluation of intangible assets on the market value of the listed companies

The accelerated pace of economic development, the digital revolution and the internationalization of business has meant for some entities the creation or acquisition of intangible assets (IA), which have become increasingly important for the economic prosperity and for determining the global value of a company, also becoming an important incentive in creating added value. The aim of this paper is focused on analyzing the impact of internally generated intangible assets on the market value of the companies. In order to achieve this aim, we conducted an empirical study involving a sample of 180 NASDAQ and NYSE listed entities between 2007 and 2016. The sample has obtained by applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria on the 500 large-capitalization companies (S&P 500 Index). Making use of regressive techniques, the authors undertook an econometrical model to test whether the impact of intangible assets on the market value of the entities increases when are provided complete, clear and easy-to-understand accounting information about the intangible assets value, which aid business to properly estimate corporate value ratio and reduce implicit bias, due to mainly taking into account those reported values when measuring an entity’s value. The results revealed an impact of the value of the reported and unreported IA on the market value of the entities, for manufacturing companies relative to service companies, which generates an added value on the capital market and implicates a close linkage of disclosure compliance and the associated industry sector. The proposed model can be an inspiration for the legislator to change the structure of financial reporting, or anticipated a valuable informational source for increasing the quality of integrated reporting of economic entities

Modeling the relationship between integrated reporting quality and sustainable business development

The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of the sensitivity in terms of the preference for using the integrated reporting quality (IRQ) based on the reporting companies’ field of activity. The study focusses on designing a sensitivity analysis relying on the most relevant financial and nonfinancial indicators as required by the stakeholders. They were adjusted by the key factors for the IRQ such as the social, natural, human and intellectual capital. The study has been designed based on the upgrade and in compliance with the connectivity principle as required by the IIRC. The data was collected from the IR examples Database between 2015–2017. The results suggest that based on sensitivity function value, those sectors of activity such as transportation and infrastructure, services and trade have a higher sensitivity preference for the IR due to the quantification of the stakeholders’ interest in terms of performance positive trend indexes. Making use of regressive techniques, the authors undertook an econometrical model for the evaluation of the IRQ that may become very useful for those companies that intend to set in place a sustainable business as it provides them the opportunity of measuring the IRQ

Sustainability Reporting as a Mixture of CSR and Sustainable Development. A Model for Micro-Enterprises within the Romanian Forestry Sector

In the last decades, the issue of the behavior geared towards society and the environment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has created a new niche for economic researches. Most studies point out that entities operating in the forestry sector, despite having difficulties in applying valid corporate social responsibility (CSR) instruments, are concerned about the role they play in society. Therefore, they tend to develop their business by giving importance to the principles of sustainable development. The aim of the paper was to propose an econometric model to report the sustainability of non-financial performance for the companies operating in the forestry field. The main objectives of the study focused on defining and analyzing the studied problem through the specialized literature, defining and conceptualizing the statistical model in order to identify the risk factors and vulnerability, influencing the forestry sector in Romania. In this context, based on a sample of 248 Romanian active companies in the forestry sector in four distinct sectors, we calculated a number of indicators specific to the forestry sector in order to identify the risks and vulnerabilities and analyze the entities associated with this sector. Our research led us to the conclusion that, as far as the forestry sector is concerned, the companies that operate in Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE) 240 and NACE 210 have registered superior results compared to the average in regards to the vulnerability of the sector, while those that operate in NACE 220 and NACE 230 focus mostly on those vulnerabilities regarding the risk zone of their sustainable development. The study could be useful both to stakeholders by giving them the possibility to identify those entities, classified according to the NACE code, taking into account the sector vulnerabilities and the risks associated with the profile market, as well as to the state that could influence through economic policies the sectors in which vulnerabilities are manifested

Financial sustainability of oil and gas companies—basis for building resilience strategies

The crisis situations that have affected the oil and gas market have had a significant impact on the companies’ performance from this sector and especially on their customers. In these circumstances, many companies faced increasing difficulties and in some cases, in order to survive, they had to restructure their business or even leave the market. Considering this context, this kind of situations are also manifesting in Romania where we can identify companies facing the erosion of their competitive position, with economic, financial and capital consequences, while other companies still managed to react positively to the crisis generated by the energy sector through innovation and internationalization. This article analyses the sustainability of the operational activity of oil and gas extraction companies from Romania, based on financial and economic data and information, having the aim of investigating the way in which the performance of different markets has influenced the economic and financial results and consequently, the implications of this influence for the structure of the activity and on the financial-economic sustainability. The research methodology is specific to a quantitative research, based on a sample of financial and economic data reported by all 29 oil and gas extraction companies from Romania over the period of 2008–2022. The data collected from the financial reports formed the basis for the calculation of the financial indicators and ratios considered relevant in forecasting the economic and financial sustainability of these companies. The results obtained are materialised in the development of a model whose aim is to assess the financial and economic sustainability, its independent variables being grouped into performance, activity and risk indicators. The usefulness of the results obtained is relevant both for the companies concerned and for their customers and suppliers who will show a visible dependence on energy costs, but also for investors and financiers directly interested in performance and sustainability information, on the basis of which they will determine the value of their own economic benefits