Measuring the Level of Integrated Reporting Alignment with the Framework

Abstract

The growing attention to social, environmental and governance issues has increased the pressure on companies to disclose information that goes beyond the financial aspects. In this scenario, integrated reporting (IR), represents a tool able to bridge the information gap, through a focus on the financial and non-financial aspects, on the existing interconnections between the different business dynamics and on the ability of the company to create value in the short, medium and long term. Several aspects of integrated reporting have been studied in the academic field. However, no study has investigated the level of alignment of integrated reports with the framework. This study aims to fill this gap, first of all developing an adequate measure to assess the level of compliance with the framework and secondly investigating some determinants of the alignment level. The results show first of all, on average, a high level of compliance of the integrated reports analysed with the framework and, secondly, they show a positive and significant impact of the firm size and of the industry environmental sensitivity on the level of alignment. This is the first study that investigates the determinants of the level of alignment of the integrated reports with the framework.