Dynamic accountability and the role of risk reporting during a global pandemic

Abstract

PurposeThis article lays out some conceptual considerations of how dynamic accountability and risk reporting practices could be tailored during and after a global pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper seeks to foster the debate on the crucial role of risk reporting considering the impact and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and stakeholder information needs in this context. The authors draw upon neo-Durkheimian institutional and legitimacy theories and elements of the accounting and risk management literature to discuss the challenges that the pandemic poses to risk recognition and assessment and the subsequent disclosure decision of risk information.FindingsRisk reporting has its roots in risk recognition and assessment. To live up to their accountability in these times of uncertainty, organisations need to address their stakeholders' new and changing information needs. Ad hoc disclosures and linking risk management and reporting to their business models (BM) would improve the risk recognition and assessment practices and the meaningfulness of the disclosed information. Hence, we provide some examples and discuss potential avenues to address these challenges and adapt risk reporting accordingly.Originality/valueThis conceptual paper contributes to the risk reporting and accountability research fields. Previous studies on communication during a crisis have focused on sustainability reporting. Thus, this study contributes to that literature by considering the role of risk reporting in times of an unexpected large-scale global crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and by highlighting possibilities for moving risk reporting towards becoming more accountability based.

Impression management tactics in Covid-19 related disclosures: a study on the annual reports of Bangladeshi listed insurance companies

“…However, studies on Covid-19 related corporate disclosures are very limited in accounting research. While the extant research covered issues of risk disclosures (Carnegie et al, 2022;Crovini et al, 2022), CSR reports (Albitar et al, 2021), reporting uncertainty (Elmarzouky et al, 2021) and…”

“…The quality of disclosure is low. The study of Crovini et al (2022) pointed out a few conceptual considerations of how dynamic accountability and risk reporting could be connected during and after the pandemic. The authors recommended that organizations understand the changing information needs of the stakeholders during this time and link risk reporting to their business models.…”

“…As the Covid-19 pandemic is a recent phenomenon, up to now, few studies (e.g. Albitar et al, 2021;Carnegie et al, 2022;Crovini et al, 2022;Elmarzouky et al, 2021;Gelmini et al, 2021) were conducted on corporate disclosure on the Covid-19 crisis. Prior studies on corporate crisis communication evidenced that companies use different communication strategies to impress and manage stakeholders in crisis situations (e.g.…”

Exploring the Effectiveness of Sustainability Measurement: Which ESG Metrics Will Survive COVID-19?

“…The motivations of this study are linked to the primary and urgent need to assess the current state of corporate reporting practices affected by the pandemic crisis by identifying and highlighting possibilities for changing some sustainability disclosure practices that could be useful for preparers, users, regulators and policymakers. As some previous studies confirmed, this unexpected and very critical situation may benefit the business context by pushing some changes on ESG issues to improve the corporate reporting transparency and to move toward more accountability based reporting practices by satisfying new information needs (Crovini et al, 2022 ; Hassan et al, 2021 ; Leoni et al, 2021 ; Lodhia et al, 2021 ; Rinaldi, 2022 ).…”

Sustainability Performance of State-owned and Private Banks Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Other impacts such as liquidity risk have become a major challenge for small and large companies, because economic activity and business models have almost stopped. There is a concern that companies will reduce their policies and initiatives on CSR activities to support sustainability as the activities also require costs [7].…”