Integrated Reporting & Sustainability: A Note on Perceptions of the Accounting Profession

Abstract

This study provides a preliminary investigation of perceptions of Integrated Reporting (IR) in Australia, as a developed country and leader in this area, and Hong Kong as an Asian country with an advanced capital market. The study compares the perceptions of IR readiness and acceptance in Australia and in Hong Kong through interviewing accounting professional associations and firms regarding their awareness of, and attitudes towards, IR. In particular, this study considers the perceptions of interviewees about the relationship between IR and Sustainability Reporting. Findings of the study suggest that the profession is taking a narrow, and explicitly financial, interpretation of the IIRC framework and does not consider it to be a replacement for other types of reporting.