Integrated reporting: benefits and implications for Italian companies

Corporate reporting has undergone many changes. Recent studies support the position that the traditional annual report does not provide stakeholders with an adequate picture of the assets and the value created by the company. In response to this, integrated reporting (IR) has been adopted as a solution capable of providing both a holistic view of a company’s ability to create value in a sustainable way and an integrated vision of the company from a financial and a non-financial point of view. However, this type of document is not mandatory. Thus, this paper aims to examine the real reasons that have pushed major Italian companies to opt for integrated reporting and, especially, to explore the benefits that can now be identified a few years beyond the first publication of an integrated report.