Towards Integrated Reporting

The central aim of this chapter is to discuss why Integrated Reporting can represent a new frontier for public sector accounting studies. From this perspective, the chapter introduces the reader to the relationships between environmental and sustainability issues and public sector organizations. These points of view have been considered pivotal for an in depth understanding of the value creation process in the public domain. However, to properly understand how public value is created, the role of intangibles must also be considered. The above mentioned reasons pave the way for the adoption of integrated reporting not only as a communication tools but, above all, as a strategic tool which can open the opportunity to experiment with management change. The chapter ends by identifying the contents to be discussed in the following chapters.

Institutional theory has been largely adopted in accounting studies to frame research. The chapter explores Management Accounting Change as a lens to observe how the isomorphic and intra organizational dynamics interact, driving towards the adoption of the Integrated Reporting. More specifically, drawing on various Institutional theory strands such as New Institutional theory and Old Institutional Economics, complementary with change management theories, a complete theoretical framework is formulated. This approach intends to grasp—through a deep understanding of institutions, routines and change, both planned and unplanned and to what extent accounting change is related to the adoption of Integrated Reporting. For these reasons the case study presented in the last chapter is intended to analyse the process started in a public sector organization towards the adoption of the Integrated Reporting, by showing the undergoing management accounting change process.

The chapter guides the reader in a tour along the development of Integrated Reporting. Most of the emerging literature on Integrated Reporting has identified the sustainability report as being the necessary antecedent. However, a deep understanding of Integrated Reporting requires one to consider similarities and differences with other documents produced annually by an organization. The chapter provides an overview of different accountability tools generally adopted for accountability purposes (annual report, corporate governance report, corporate social responsibility report and intellectual capital report), driving the reader to a panoramic view of the two different frameworks on integrated reporting developed so far: the South Africa Integrated Reporting Framework and the International <IR> Framework. Some reflections on the challenges of Integrated Reporting conclude the chapter, leading the reader to the last chapter, where a case study analyzing the ongoing management accounting change process toward the adoption of the Integrated Reporting in a public organization is discussed.

The chapter intends to verify, through a case study on the progressive implementation of the IR, the way in which the intra organizational dynamics play a key role in the evolution of management accounting change and impacts on the overall result and success of the change process. The Hera Group case study intends to grasp a useful “lesson to learn” for other entities located in the public sector realm, that are willing to introduce the integrated thinking towards the IR, in order to be more efficiently managed by key organizational actors and managers. The analysis considers both the external change, the integrated thinking and IR disclosure prepared by a public sector entity and its changes over time, as well as the internal change, viewed as the progressive internalization of the integrated thinking and the path towards it. To this aim, the approach and the experience of Hera is presented, outlining features, evolution, similarities and differences of the Hera Sustainability Report with the Integrated Reporting framework, as well as the management accounting change towards the institutionalization of the integrated thinking. This case study is an important and informative example of how integrated reporting is a useful tool for governing an organization such as Hera, operating in the public services sector and owned by both public administrations and private investors.