Integrated Reporting in Action: Different Implications for Intellectual Capital Management and Governance in Different Business Contexts

In management studies, the relevance of Intangibles and Intellectual Capital in value creation processes has been a research topic for many years. Several attempts to develop measurement and reporting systems of this relevant source of value have been done, but managerial literature has highlighted the limits and the difficulties of some of those endeavors. The Integrated Reporting initiative, which has general aims of providing transparent and integrated disclosure, with a strategic perspective also from a communication point of view, has also entered this field with the aim of improving disclosure of Intangibles and Intellectual Capital. An accurate description of the company’s Intellectual Capital, although its definition is not fully overlapping with that most widespread in managerial literature, is indeed one of the focal elements of an Integrated Report. This paper proposes an exploratory study, with the use of case study research method, on three companies, which have applied the Integrated Reporting Framework and are operating in different business contexts. Aim of this work is first verifying the ability of Integrated Reporting to favor the visualization of Intangibles and Intellectual Capital and provide accurate information on Intellectual Capital, in order to positively affect management and governance practices, with respect both to external and internal users. Second, this research investigates if the different business context may have some influence in these processes of measurement, management and reporting.