Integrated reporting is the latest novelty in the corporate reporting field. It is a tool capable of better representing the capacity of companies to create value over time. In recent years, attention to this new reporting tool has grown in both professional and academic fields. However, despite past research that has analysed many aspects of integrated reporting, the integrated reporting quality and its determinants are still little explored. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing the effect of board characteristics on integrated reporting quality according to an agency theory approach. The findings, based on a sample of 134 international firms, show a positive relationship between the size, independence, diversity, and activity of a board with integrated reporting quality. This study contributes to enriching literature in this area in various ways. First, it broadens the scope of application of agency theory; second, it identifies further internal determinants of integrated reporting quality. This is the first study that analyses the impact of the characteristics of a board as a determining factor of integrated reporting quality.

Integrated reporting (IR) is a new corporate‐reporting system that aims to represent the firm's value creation in the short, medium, and long term. In contrast to other disclosure systems focusing on non‐financial dimensions, including social and environmental aspects, IR is characterized by information connectivity. In recent years, integrated reporting has received increasing interest, both academic and professional. However, report quality is still a critical aspect of IR. Although several studies investigate IR, few focus on quality and its determinants. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the impact of national culture, an external determinant, from a stakeholder theory perspective. The results show that IR quality is related to five dimensions of Hofstede—power distance, individualism, masculinity, and indulgence negatively and uncertainty avoidance positively. This study contributes to the relevant literature by analysing an additional factor that influences the quality of corporate reports, namely, national culture. This is the first study that investigates national culture as a determinant of integrated‐reporting quality.

Integrated reporting (IR) is considered an innovative and effective reporting tool that includes financial and nonfinancial information. Recently, there has been a heightened emphasis on IR from both academic and professional viewpoints. However, despite the importance of stakeholders in the practice of IR, their impact on the report drafting process has not been analysed in any study. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap by analysing the relationship between stakeholders' pressure and IR quality.On the basis of the stakeholder theory, this study uses a regression model to demonstrate how the IR quality is significantly and positively associated with the stakeholders' pressures. Specifically, results of this study indicate that pressures from customers, environmental protection organizations, employees, shareholders, and governments determine the IR quality. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that investigates stakeholders' pressure as a determinant of IR quality. KEYWORDS disclosure, IIRC, integrated reporting, stakeholder pressure, stakeholder theory | INTRODUCTIONAn increase in the relevance of nonfinancial disclosure, in general, and integrated reporting (IR), in particular, relates to two closely interlinked aspects: the marked criticality of stakeholder relationships in ensuring the medium-and long-term success of a company and the growing importance of voluntary disclosure models. Concerning the first aspect, the environment in which companies operate has been radically changed by several factors such as globalization, citizens' sensitivity to ecological issues, attention to human rights, financial scandals, and national and international regulation of social and environmental issues. These changes in the scenario in which companies operate have driven the need to think about new business models and to redefine processes, tools, and management models that will help companies to achieve not only financial goals but also social and environmental goals. The financial balance and the ability to obtain competitive advantages and to create value in the short, medium, and long terms are, consequently, closely connected with the quality of managing relationships with different stakeholders groups that bring the necessary skills and resources for conducting business activities. This context leads to the second aspect in which the analysis of nonfinancial disclosure becomes particularly relevant -the strategic criticality of voluntary disclosure. The management of communication activities has a significant impact on stakeholder relationships, and it is critical for the medium-and long-term success in terms of the extension of the company's stakeholders and their contributions. In relation to the two aspects outlined above, this study aims to analyse the impact of the stakeholders' pressure on IR quality. IR, developed by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), is a corporate reporting tool that resulted from the evolution of environmental, social, and sustainability reports. ...

The diffusion of integrated reporting has encouraged academics to pay greater attention to this topic. Several studies have been conducted since the 2011 of the Discussion Paper "Towards Integrated Reporting: Communicating Value in the 21stCentury" by the International Integrated Reporting Council. However, conflicting opinions and the wide range of extant studies underscore the need to better understand the current contributions in the field. Furthermore, the novelty of integrated reporting makes it necessary to define as yet unexplored fields in this research stream.To that end, we conduct a systematic review of the literature to classify the research according to normative and descriptive perspectives and identify an agenda that will be able to guide future studies. The review shows that the concept of value creation, internal and qualitative determinants, the content and quality of integrated reporting, and its impacts need further investigation.

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.

In recent years, greater attention has been paid to sustainability issues. Companies have received increasing pressure from stakeholders to adopt sustainable behavior and provide an adequate representation of sustainability practices. Nonfinancial disclosure has thus taken on a crucial role. In the academic field, several researchers have analyzed the effects of nonfinancial disclosure. However, limited attention has been paid to the impact of nonfinancial information on the cost of debt. This study aims at bridging this gap by analyzing the effect of ESG disclosure on the cost of debt. The fixed effects analysis conducted on a sample of 8264 observations (an unbalanced panel data of 919 firms for the period 2010-2019), shows a negative effect of the ESG disclosure on the cost of debt financing. The results demonstrate that companies with greater levels of transparency in the dissemination of ESG information benefit from accessing third party financial resources at better conditions.

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.