The relationships between Integrated Report and decision-making and control processes: a longitudinal empirical investigation
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to investigate the internal use of Integrated Report and its relationships with decision-making and control processes through a longitudinal perspective. To this aim, a longitudinal field study involving six Italian companies which have implemented an Integrated Report is adopted. The findings show the growing role played by sustainability, which has influenced the purposes and the use of Integrated Report as well as the role of the organizational actors involved in the reporting process. Specifically, the results highlight that Integrated Report has supported the integration of sustainability-related goals within the corporate strategy and decision-making processes. As regards control processes, sustainability information included into Integrated Report are periodically monitored for strategic and operational reasons. However, despite the growing role of Integrated Report in supporting decision-making and control processes, mainly in relation to sustainability issues, the management accounting function seems less involved in the integrated reporting process than in the past.
Keywords: Integrated report, Management accounting, Decision-making, Sustainability, Longitudinal field study
