The Influence of Corporate Governance on the Adoption of The Integrated Report: A first Study on IIRC Pilot Programme

This contribution has three main aims. First, it discusses the concept of Integrated Report as a privileged instrument of companies’ voluntary disclosure practices that answers to the investors and regulators’ calling for a greater focus on companies’ strategy, governance, future performance and risks, overcoming a great part of traditional financial statement’s limitations. Second, it introduces key issues currently being debated relating to the <IR> Pilot Programme and the main characteristics of the companies that decided to adhere to it. Finally, it shows some first empirical results about the corporate governance factors associated with the voluntary decision to prepare an Integrated Report according to the <IR> International Framework. In so doing the authors draw some first conclusions about how Corporate Governance structure and mechanisms - such as legal environment, composition of the board of directors or ownership structure – are related to company’s disclosure policies and the decision to adopt Integrated Report.