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1. Introduction
One of the most recent concepts in accounting practice and research is the development of integrated reporting (IR). It is an accounting-associated initiative that stems initially from the quest for sustainability and value because of initiators’ concern of businesses’ impact on the environment and society. In addition to environmental aspects, financial and social sustainability are important elements of the overall health of an organisation (Hopwood et al., 2010). Beyond the reporting process at the operational level, a more holistic view of the organisation needs to be adopted at the managerial level that drives the IR process, which is referred to as integrated thinking (IT) (Koehler and Hoffmann, 2016). IT incorporates various features, such as forward-looking, increasing transparency, better decision making, and managing the value process correctly (Koehler and Hoffmann, 2016). In order to successfully incorporate IR in the organisation, it needs to permeate all layers through IT. IR is designed to support the creation of sustainable value for stakeholders that results from IT decision making and actions (Busco et al., 2013). IT implies a robust system that permeates all layers of the organisation, and impacts on all strategic and operational goals and processes (Oliver et al., 2016). In particular, forward-thinking and prospective financial and non-financial planning play an important role, which in turn can be supported and greatly enhanced through modern technologies and new media, such as the use of big data analytics and social media applications (Lodhia and Stone, 2017; Mio, 2016).
Furthermore, the association between a well-established IT concept and the explanatory and reflective power of qualitative IR in a case setting demands further attention, as to date only few studies have investigated the link (Dumay et al., 2016). In general, the concept of IT is new and relatively little has been written on it (South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), 2015), including how it is enacted in practice (e.g. Busco et al., 2013; Mio and Fasan, 2016; Piermattei and Venturini, 2016). IT must be considered as an essential and integral part of the general IR ecosystem (Piermattei and Venturini, 2016). While the few prior studies on IT outline various options of how to adopt IT, e.g. the IT journey by Piermattei and Venturini (2016),...