What does materiality mean to integrated reporting preparers? An empirical exploration

Purpose—This paper seeks to understand how the principle of materiality gets implemented in integrated reporting contexts. Design/methodology/approach—Drawing on an interpretation of materiality as a social construction, this research explores the meaning that practitioners attach to the principle during their implementation of it. Following an existing framework for exploring materiality in corporate reporting, this study investigates the meaning by focusing on who participates in determining integrated reporting materiality and to whom the integrated report (IR) is addressed. This analysis benefits from in-depth interviews with persons involved in the preparation of IR for a firm that pioneered this form of reporting. Findings—In IR preparers’ view, the meaning of materiality corresponds with the company strategy: The IR describes strategic priorities and related actions and results. Capital providers are the primary intended addressees of the material information. Although several actors engage in IR preparation, the materiality determination process is governed by a specific “IR hub” in strict collaboration with and dependence on the CFO. Research limitations/implications—In an IR context, materiality is intimately connected to the function that preparers assign to the report. Originality/value—This novel research opens the “black box” of the process by which materiality gets defined and then practically implemented in an IR context

Integrated reporting and narrative accountability: the role of preparers

Purpose: The International Integrated Reporting Council claims that integrated reporting (IR) can enhance corporate accountability, yet critical and interpretative studies have contested this outcome. Insufficient empirical research details how preparers experience accountability while constructing IR; to fill this gap, the purpose of this paper is to analyse how the preparers’ mode of cognition influences the patterns of accountability associated with IR. Design/methodology/approach: A functionalist approach to narratives helps elucidate the role that the IR preparers’ narrative mode of cognition plays on accountability towards stakeholders. The empirical analysis particularly benefits from in-depth interviews with the IR preparers of a global insurer that has used IR since 2013. Findings: The preparers’ narrative mode of cognition facilitates dialogue with IR users. It addresses accountability tensions by revealing the company’s value creation process. Preparers’ efforts to establish a meaningful dialogue with a growing variety of stakeholders through broader and plainer messages reveals the potential of IR as a narrative source of a socializing form of accountability. However, financial stakeholders remain the primary addressees of the reports. Research limitations/implications: This paper focusses on preparers’ views; further research should integrate users’ accountability expectations. Originality/value: This paper offers new insights for dealing with corporate reporting and accountability in a novel IR setting

The governmentality of corporate (un)sustainability: the case of the ILVA steel plant in Taranto (Italy)

The present research aims to investigate the role of states in governing the sustain- ability trajectories and decisions of companies and their local communities. Draw- ing on Dean’s (Governmentality: power and rule in modern society, SAGE, London, 2009) “analytics of government” as the theoretical framework, the paper focuses on detecting how the Italian Government “problematised” the sustainability-related risks associated with the ILVA steel plant in Taranto, whose levels of pollution have worried both the Italian authorities and the European Union Commission. The anal- ysis also considers the “regimes of governance” under which the risks have been addressed and then explains the “utopian ideal” that the Italian Government tried to achieve by allowing the company to continue its activity, contrary to the Italian Judiciary’s provision to halt the hot working area of the steel plant in July 2012. Patterns related to Dean’s framework were identi ed through an iterative process of manual elaborative coding of the o cial documents ascribable to the main actors involved in governing the sustainability-related risks at ILVA. The ndings show that the Italian Government took its decisions on ILVA in the name of relevant risks of unemployment, economic development and territorial competitiveness. The Ital- ian Government adopted several practices of governance to make these risks more “visible” and to silence the environmental and health risks that, otherwise, would have emphasised the unsustainability of the business activities. The paper extends the growing body of research that investigates corporate (un)sustainability practices by showing how states may directly in uence sustainability-related corporate risks in the name of a higher public interest

Family firms and innovation: the role of ventured-start-ups

Technological innovation can be defined as the set of activities through which a firm conceives, designs, manufactures, and introduces a new product, technology, system or technique (Freeman, 1976). It can take place according to different strategies: through internal R&D and by mean of external knowledge acquisition (Cassiman and Veugelers, 2006). Extant studies are predominantly focused on the analysis of the \u201cinternal perspective\u201d, while there is a research gap on how firms can reach technological innovation by mean of venture capital initiatives (Dushnitsky and Lenox, 2005). The present paper aims to fill this gap by focusing on how family small and medium entities (SMEs) may develop technological innovations by creating ventured start-ups. In particular, considering the previous studies which identified the family firms\u2019 peculiar characteristics in terms of processes like corporate governance (Randoy and Goel, 2003), internationalization (Zahra, 2003), entrepreneurship (Naldi et al., 2007) and financing (Romano et al., 2001), the research investigates how the family firm\u2019s ownership structure affects its technological innovation activities and outcomes (Hoskisson et al., 2002)

Disclosing Business Model in the "Integrated Report": Evidence from European Early Adopters

The rising emphasis on the business model (BM) as a reportable element reflects the view it constitutes one of the key starting point for investors\u2019 analysis. In spite of this, recent academic and professional studies describe current reporting on BM as \u201cinadequate\u201d advancing the most heated critics for the presence of a so-called \u201cboilerplate\u201d disclosure.The IASB has thus embarked on a new initiative with the International Integrated Reporting Council to promote BM disclosure by mean of a particular reporting format called \u201cIntegrated Report\u201d (IR). An IR is as a clear and concise representation of how organization creates and sustains value, and BM constitutes a fundamental issue of disclosure. The paper aims to understand whether IR is apt to offer informative disclosure on firm\u2019s BM. Drawing on previous studies on voluntary disclosure, the paper purposes a \u201cframework of analysis\u201d to assess the quality of BM disclosure with specific regards to extensiveness and spread of covered topics and to three specific language attributes: type of information (quantitative vs. non-quantitative), tone (positive vs. non positive) and time orientation (forward looking vs. non-forward looking). By performing an in-depth manual content analysis, we apply our \u201cframework of analysis\u201d to all the European early-adopters and we find that their BM disclosure is substantially informative. Our findings have relevant implications in corroborating the role of IR project in improving reporting on BM

Accounting, management and accountability in times of crisis: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the themes emerging from the first studies exploring accounting, accountability and management practices during the COVID-19 pandemic and coming from a diversity of experiences, across countries, organizations and individuals. In so doing, the paper gives an overview of the most recent findings about the role of accounting and accountability in times of crisis that are hosted in this special issue of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ). Design/methodology/approach The paper draws together and identifies emerging themes related to the current COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on accounting, accountability and management practices and considershowthestudiesinthisissueextendone’sknowledgeofaccountingandcontributetoaccounting research. Findings –Three emerging themes are drawn and their contribution to accounting scholarship is discussed. The first theme deals with the role of accounting and numbers in supporting governmental responses to COVID-19. The second theme considers accounting practices used to make exceptional decisions at the organizational level in times of crisis. The third theme addresses a relevant frontier of research into accounting and inequalities. Practical implications In considering the diverse contributions of this special issue, the paper points out how uncertainty and change can impact the design, use and understanding of accounting, management and accountability practices and can be accepted by scholars and practitioners as part of such practices. Originality/value This paper provides a timely and comprehensive picture of the first reflections and research findings on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on one’s interpretation of accounting, accountability and management practices

L'"ibridazione dei sistemi di risk management in contesti aziendali reticolari

Il capitolo focalizza l\u2019attenzione sulle pratiche di risk management attivabili nel contesto organizzativo \u201cibrido\u201d dei network d\u2019impresa. Avvalendosi dei riscontri empirici evidenziati nella letteratura di accounting, l\u2019obiettivo \ue8 quello di illustrare il processo di \u201cibridazione\u201d che interessa i sistemi di risk management: nelle reti d\u2019impresa, pi\uf9 che in contesti mono-aziendali \u201cpuri\u201d, l\u2019implementazione di tali sistemi richiede infatti la combinazione fra \u201ctradizionali\u201d expertise di gestione del rischio ed expertise pi\uf9 specificatamente riferibili all\u2019attivazione e all\u2019impiego di sistemi di accounting

Sistemi di accounting per le reti d\u2019impresa dell\u2019Alto Adriatico

L\u2019idea che orienta l\u2019analisi qui condotta \ue8 sintetizzabile nella circostanza secondo cui i sistemi di accounting non soltanto costituiscono strumenti per una verifica (ex post) delle performance raggiunte dal network e dalle imprese che lo compongono, ma rappresentano al contempo \u201cforze\u201d che quotidianamente alimentano e modellano sia le relazioni di rete, sia il network complessivamente inteso. In tal senso si ha motivo di ritenere che tali sistemi possano rappresentare uno strumento manageriale di un certo significato per tutte le imprese dell\u2019Alto Adriatico che hanno deciso di sviluppare il proprio business secondo soluzioni organizzative \u201ca rete\u201d, o perlomeno per quelle imprese che rintracciano nella partecipazione a un network non tanto una soluzione temporanea sottesa a esigenze passeggere, quanto invece un punto di partenza per rendere continuativamente pi\uf9 efficace il proprio business model. In questa prospettiva il presente scritto si propone di evidenziare il ruolo dei sistemi di accounting nella governance di un network

Accounting e potere. Il contributo interpretativo del governmentality framework

L\u2019interpretazione dei sistemi di accounting come pratica sociale e istituzionale sottende un\u2019idea forte: la capacit\ue0 che tali sistemi hanno nell\u2019influenzare le relazioni di contesto, oltre che quelle dell\u2019ambiente or-ganizzativo nel quale trovano attivazione, fino ad orientare \u201cla vita di tutti i giorni\u201d (Hopwood, 1994; Hopwood e Miller, 1994). La letteratura di accounting ha fatto leva su questa idea e si \ue8 av-vicinata all\u2019opera di Michel Foucault, filosofo, sociologo e storico francese da molti considerato tra i grandi pensatori del XX secolo. I contributi che Foucault ha fornito in ordine alle forme di manifestazione del potere (fino a configurare un vero e proprio \u201cgovernmentality framework\u201d) hanno aperto la strada a molti contributi critici sul funzionamento dei sistemi di accounting, in relazione alla loro duplice natura di strumento disciplinare e di auto-governo. Il volume si propone di individuare la \u201cmatrice\u201d di tali ricerche, mettendone in luce la visione di fondo, la modellistica di riferimento e i principali ambiti di investigazione empirica ed offre un percorso di analisi del rapporto fra accounting e potere alla luce del \u201cgovernmentality framework\u201d. Ci\uf2 apre la possibilit\ue0 di prospettare nuove linee di ricerca sul ruolo dell\u2019accounting nei network di imprese, proprio perch\ue9 il loro funziona-mento \ue8 condizionato dalle modalit\ue0 di esercizio del potere fra le diverse unit\ue0 che li compongono

Il modello di bilancio assicurativo Ias/Ifrs. Prospettive di evoluzione

Il volume si propone di indagare le prospettive di evoluzione del bilancio delle imprese di assicurazione secondo i principi contabili internazionali Ias/Ifrs. La research question a fondamento del lavoro è così riassumibile: quale accounting model guida la redazione del bilancio di esercizio Ias/Ifrs nell’impostazione propria del Discussion Paper “Preliminary Views on Insurance Contracts”? E dunque quale direzione è destinato ad assumere il sistema di valori del bilancio assicurativo con l’emanazione del principio contabile volto a sostituire l’Ifrs 4? Lo studio si focalizza sulle modalità secondo cui le passività assicurative alimentano il sistema dei valori del bilancio Ifrs-compliant, con riferimento tanto al bilancio predisposto adottando l’Ifrs 4, quanto a quello che potrà scaturire applicando le indicazioni contenute nel Discussion Paper assicurativo. L’analisi prende in esame le condizioni di iscrizione in bilancio di tali passività e i relativi criteri di valutazione, tenendo conto del conceptual framework e degli altri standard Ias/Ifrs non di settore. Il problema del riconoscimento in bilancio delle passività assicurative viene esaminato considerando altresì i policyholder participation rights propri dei participating contracts e i benefici attesi per effetto dell’esercizio, da parte degli assicurati, delle opzioni contenute nei contratti sottoscritti (beneficial policyholder behavior). L’analisi critica dei principi di fondo che stanno a base del Discussion Paper e dei correlati metodi applicativi prospettati per la determinazione delle passività in esame consente di dare prime risposte alla research question che dà origine al lavoro