Information used to manage the business and support the decision‐making of stakeholders is being subject to an evolution. In this context, traditional financial reporting is considered not sufficient anymore. This has translated into a sharp increase in the number of firms that have begun to adopt emerging reporting practices. This study aims to examine the influence that both firm‐ and country‐specific characteristics have on the voluntary uptaking of integrated reporting internationally. In order to do so, it analyses a sample of 71 international listed companies that have adopted this reporting form in 2016. The results show that firms are more likely to implement integrated reporting if they are located in countries with a higher level of corruption perception and a better risk rating and that are considered as relatively more collectivist and feminist and with a long‐term orientation. Legal system has resulted to be not significant. As for firms' characteristics, large size, profitability, market‐to‐book ratio, and the size of the board are found to be significant variables. Moreover, the results indicate that the adoption of integrated reporting is not influenced by a higher level of leverage, firm efficiency and board diversity and independence.

Three years ago we launched this special issue of the European Accounting Review devoted to research on intangibles and intellectual capital. Clearly we are now living in an interesting world: constantly intensifying competition, and events such as the bursting of the technology bubble, the disappearance of many new economy companies (dotcoms, etc.), the stagnation of the world economy, not to mention the 11 September tragedy, have all contributed to significant change, and even vanishing of a large part of companies' intangibles.However, we strongly feel that the basic issues indicated in our Call for Papers are still relevant. We would like to point out below both the reasons why intangibles are still very important and some of the conceptual issues the research on this subject faces.In the original Call we wrote:It is largely accepted that we are witnessing a new phase in economic development which is characterised by continuous innovation, the spread of digital and communication technologies, the relevance of network forms of organisation, as well as the prevalence of soft, intangible and human factors. . . . Innovative notions of wealth such as those of intellectual capital, relational capital, and organisational capital are emerging, whilst old concepts -such as human capital -are acquiring a fresh significance on conceptual and practical grounds. . . . The very management of organisations is coming to terms with the larger role played by intangible, non-financial factors. Accordingly, new theoretical and operational tasks are imposed on management accounting for capturing and understanding the multiple levels of today's organisational performance. . . . The traditional notion of value itself seems to be at stake, being linked eminently to financial, short-term variables, which are oriented only towards the shareholders' interest.We strongly believe that intangibles are the major drivers of company growth. In an economy where innovation, ICT technologies, and networks and alliances,

Nowadays, we are facing a new phase of capitalism. Information that is beyond financial capital and able to provide a more comprehensive picture of the path towards sustainable development of organizations is increasingly needed. A remarkable body of evidence already exists on how large listed companies are facing this change, but very little is known about small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This work aims to analyse if and to what extent new forms of reporting such as sustainability and integrated reporting are adopted by SMEs to illustrate their journey to sustainable development. To this end, the reports of three Italian SMEs have been examined against the internationally set principles and contents of these reporting models. It emerges that, despite the shared ambition of these reports, they are different in nature and deliver a quite distinctive representation of the concerned SMEs and their ways to pursuing and communicating sustainable development at a micro level.

No abstract

The development of a unique analytical method for the determination of five classes of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in atmospheric gas and the particle phase through gas chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry is presented. Every step of the pre-analytical and analytical optimization process is described. Great effort was put into simplifying the traditional techniques, with reference to EPA and literature methods. Automated instruments were used for sample extraction and cleanup in order to enhance repeatability and reduce contamination risks. Unlike most common approaches, no separation of the analytes was performed before the GC analysis in order to avoid sample fractionation and to save time and materials. This allowed low instrumental and method detection limits (pg to sub-pg) to be achieved. Accuracy and precision were tested by fortifying the matrix and analysing standard reference materials (NIST SRM 1649b Urban Dust and 2585 Organic Contaminants in House Dust). The method was applied to five samples from Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica. Concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are presented. Lighter compounds dominate the distribution and are mainly present in the gaseous phase. The observed pattern may be attributable to long-range transport. Results are in general agreement with literature data, where available.

This paper aims to aid our understanding of the emergence of accounting as a control instrument in complex proto-industrial settings, through its perceived capacity of mirroring the production process. The paper starts off from an archival document, the 1586 deliberation by the Venetian Senate, which imposed on the Arsenal a stocktaking to be conducted every three years, and ad hoc galley production accounts to be kept in double entry format, where the passage of materials and work-in-process between units were recorded both in physical quantity and value. In this deliberation the Venetian Senate was clearly posing explicitly the problem of costing and the efficient use of resources within the Arsenal. Until then, the Senate controlled this organisation only by limiting the funds allocated to activities (wages, oars, 'stuffs') without entering into the substance of the operations. Two interrelated investigations are carried out. First, a content analysis of the 1586 document is made. Second, the question of its 'impact' on the Arsenal's actual accounting practices is addressed. In a 1633 Report by Alvise Molin, a magistrate of the Republic, some elements of the 1586 deliberation seem to surface, insofar as a quite sophisticated calculation of the production costs of galleys is provided. In this sense it might well be that the notion of cost emerged as a sort of 'accidental by-product' of the Senate's efforts aimed at introducing tighter forms of control on the Arsenal.

No abstract

Despite geographical isolation and almost complete absence of human settlements, Antarctica is affected by Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): the traces of these impacts are recorded in the snow. Although POPs were detected in Antarctica decades ago, there are still large knowledge gaps and a comprehensive understanding of their fundamental patterns is lacking. In this study, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs, including the non-Aroclor PCB-11), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in surface snow samples from five selected locations of Northern Victoria Land. To our knowledge this is the first study providing ground-based measurements of PCDD/Fs, PCB-11 and PBDEs in Antarctic surface snows, including the plateau. Long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) followed by regional redistribution were hypothesized as governing sources of POPs to the Antarctic Plateau, but also local pollution from human activities was found. Sub-pg L− 1 levels of PCDD/Fs were detected in the coastal samples, while PCBs (ΣPCBs 110-580 pg L− 1) generally showed a decrease with respect to the past decades. Similar concentrations of PBDEs (ΣBDEs 130–340 pg L− 1) were found, mainly attributable to the congeners BDE-47 and BDE-99. PAHs (ΣPAHs 0.65–140 ng L− 1) were the most abundant compounds in all sites with an unexpected high value near a refueling point. Possible source areas of contamination were investigated by means of the HYSPLIT model