The emergence of <IR> 

Nicholas Rowbottom, Joanne Locke

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

57 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The emergence of <IR> as developed by the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) is traced from antecedent concepts of‘integrated reporting’ and earlier voluntary corporate reporting initiatives.

The paper uses actor network theory (ANT) and its conceptions of detour, affordance and laboratory to examine the development of<IR> while still controversial and where meanings remained open and malleable to the inscription of interests from a wide coalition of actors. The programme of action is interpreted through interviews with key individuals,official documents, publications and integrated reports circulated by the IIRC.

The analysis highlights the imperatives of private standard setters and indicates how integrated reporting corporate governance regulation in South Africa provided a laboratory prototype for reshaping the UK ‘Connected Reporting’ initiative into the IIRC <IR> framework. The analysis reveals important detours and the associated affordances made during the development of<IR>: a) the repositioning of <IR> in the corporate reporting infrastructure to ensure that it did not usurp the pre-existing frameworks of supporting actors; and b) the specification of providers of financial capital as the intended reporting audience to ensure that it could meet the interests of those actors seeking a solution for more entity-specific, communicative,‘de-cluttered’ corporate reporting.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)83-115
Number of pages33
JournalAccounting and Business Research
Volume46
Issue number1
Early online date31 Jul 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jan 2016

Keywords

  • Integrated Reporting
  • Sustainability Reporting
  • ESG Reporting
  • IIRC
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Actor Network Theory

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Accounting

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