Intellectual capital is an important tool for strengthening a firm's competitive advantage and helping it achieve its medium‐ and long‐term financial objectives. Currently accepted accounting principles do not outline strict rules and regulations for intellectual capital disclosure. However, the advent of integrated reporting offer firms an innovative tool to disseminate this information. Although previous research has analysed the intellectual capital found in integrated reports, no studies have analysed the board of directors' role in intellectual capital disclosure policies. This study uses agency theory to analyse the effect of board characteristics on intellectual capital disclosure quality (ICDQ) in the context of integrated reporting. To this end, it develops a new scoring system to measure ICDQ. The results, based on a sample of 130 international firms operating in different sectors, show a positive relationship between board size, independence, diversity and activity with ICDQ.

The limits of financial disclosure in meeting the investors' needs have led to the request for reporting frameworks capable of incorporating information of different nature. Integrated reporting (IR), which is the latest novelty in organisational reporting practice, promises to bring together material financial and non‐financial information. IR has received considerable academic attention in recent years. However, little attention has been paid to the role of the audit committee in IR processes, despite the influence that this body has on disclosure, thanks to its supervisory and monitoring functions. This study bridges this gap by analysing the effect of the audit committee attributes on integrated reporting quality (IRQ) from an agency theory perspective. The regression analysis, conducted on a sample of 125 international firms, demonstrated a positive effect of size, independence and meeting frequency of the audit committee on IRQ and a non‐significant effect of financial expertise.

Integrated reporting (IR) is used to demonstrate a firm's capacity to create value in the short, medium, and long term. It can better represent existing relationships between the company and its stakeholders, with a particular focus on investors. Attention to IR has grown considerably in recent years. However, studies on the determinants of IR quality are still limited. This study aims to bridge this literature gap by being the first study to analyse the role of ownership structure in IR context. To this end, it uses agency theory and is based on a sample of 152 international companies that have adopted IR. The results indicate a positive effect of institutional ownership and a negative effect of ownership concentration, managerial ownership and state ownership on the quality of integrated reports. These results are also consistent with the level of alignment of integrated reports with the framework. To our knowledge, this is the first study that analyses the role of ownership structure in the IR policies.

The crisis connected to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic represents an epochal event destined to generate strong economic and social consequences. The impact of the pandemic on business activities and business models also entails rethinking reporting practices. The pandemic has, in fact, created an enormous need for investors and stakeholders in general for future-oriented information relating to the impacts of this event on organizations. Integrated reporting is an ideal tool to provide information related to the effects of the pandemic and provide a holistic view of the future prospects of organizations. This study, using legitimacy theory and based on a two-step methodology, highlighted a series of information that companies will need to have to include in integrated reports to maintain and defend legitimacy. The results provide a double perspective: the first based on content elements and the second based on capitals. The results represent an important guideline for companies for the preparation of future integrated reports.

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 <IR> framework. This study aims to fill this gap, first of all developing an adequate measure to assess the level of compliance with the <IR> 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 <IR> 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 <IR> framework.

Integrated reporting (IR) represents the last frontier of corporate disclosure and aims to include material financial and nonfinancial information in a single document. One of the main objectives of IR, in the idea conceived by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), is to provide recipients with written information in a clear, understandable, and accessible way. In light of this goal, this study, using stakeholder theory, aims to examine the readability of integrated reports and the factors capable of affecting this level of readability. The analysis, conducted on a sample of 221 international companies that published an integrated report in 2020, shows a low level of readability of the integrated reports examined. Furthermore, it demonstrates a positive effect of firm size and financial leverage on the level of readability of the integrated reports, also highlighting a nonsignificant impact of firm profitability. Our results offer important contributions to theory and practice.

In recent years, corporate disclosure policies have undergone important changes due mainly to greater requests from stakeholders and the presence of limited resources. Companies are forced to rethink their disclosure strategies and the way they communicate to the outside, in order to increase transparency and meet the needs of their stakeholders. In this context, Integrated Reporting (IR), developed by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), represents a new way to provide, in a single document, interconnected information on strategies, risks, performance, governance and future prospects. In the development process of this reporting tool, South Africa played an important role. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the level of alignment of integrated reports with the IIRC framework in the South African contest. The results show first of all that South African companies provide integrated reports with high levels of alignment with the IIRC framework. Secondly, the analysis of the determinants shows how firm size, firm profitability and financial leverage positively affect the level of compliance of the integrated reports with the IIRC requirements.

Integrated reporting (IR) represents the last frontier of corporate disclosure. Its purpose is to provide information on an organization's strategy and its business model, performance and governance, offering a clear overview of the organization's capacity to create value. From an academic point of view, the focus on integrated reporting has grown significantly in recent years. However, an aspect still little explored is represented by the level of compliance of the integrated reports with the IIRC requirements. Among the few studies on the issue of the level of alignment of integrated reports with the IIRC framework, only two focused on identifying the determinants. This work aims to bridge this gap through the analysis of the effect of three characteristics of the board (size, average age, gender diversity) and one of the CEO (duality) on the level of compliance of integrated reports with the IIRC framework. The results show a significant and positive effect of board size and board gender diversity on the level of alignment of integrated reports with the IIRC framework. They also show a significant and negative effect of the CEO duality and a not significant effect of the board average age.