ABSTRACT:
Citizens represent the most significant group within the different user groups (which also include, among others: politicians, investors and creditors, oversight and governing bodies) considered relevant for governmental financial reporting. Therefore, it is important that citizens are not just spectators but they should be encouraged to participate in collective decision making. Several tools can be used to involve citizens and so stimulating their support to financial sustainability, such as Popular Reporting, Integrated Reporting, Sustainability Reporting and Intellectual Capital Reporting. Within these, popular reporting is getting growing attention in the public sector reporting. The basic concept is to go beyond the traditional financial information, including and integrating additional data. This more complex and comprehensive set of information should be presented in a concise, comprehensive and attractive manner and in a simple language, in order to attract the average citizen’s interest and to allow them to participate. The tool that may achieve these objectives is the Integrated Popular Reporting (IPR). This new report can melt the main characteristics of the Integrated Reporting and Popular Reporting providing a holistic, useful and meaningful information set (financial and non-financial) in an easily comprehensive and attractive manner. In order to enhance public governance, governments could be interested in developing Integrated Popular Reporting, paying attention at ensuring transparency, neutrality, stakeholders’ participation, and their contribution to decision-making processes. These reports can promote a two-way communication and dialogue between citizens and governments. The present research, using a deductive- inductive methodology, aims to identify the main features that an Integrated Popular Report should contain to best respond to the information needs of users in the contest of public sector organizations.
KEYWORDS: Accountability; Integrated Popular Reporting; Local government.
