Integrated reporting and business segmentation: An international overview

• Autor(a) principal: Bovane, Silpa Vassantlal
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/24214
• topic: Integrated reporting; Segment reporting; Proprietary costs; Competitive harm; Relato integrado; Relato por segmentos; Custos proprietários; Danos de competitividade

In furtherance of future research, this study aims to explore the status quo of integrated reporting (<IR>) by evidencing geographic and firm-level characteristics of <IR> reporters, and differences in their firm value, both before and after <IR> adoption and distinguishing between reference and regular reporters. Despite the heightened emphasis on <IR> in recent years, the influence of <IR> in segment reporting remains unexplored. This study aims to fill this literature gap by analysing the effect of <IR> in segment disclosures according to a proprietary cost theory approach. The analysis is conducted through descriptive and inferential statistics, followed by empirical research through the estimation of a logistic regression model based on competitive harm proxies (abnormal profitability and industry concentration), for a sample of 366 <IR> reporters (79 classified as reference and 287 as regular) from 2010 to 2019, retrieved from the Integrated Reporting Examples Database. Main findings indicate that the majority of reporters are from South Africa, Japan and the UK whilst reference reporters are located in South Africa and Europe. On average, reporters are larger, less profitable and higher valued in the post <IR> adoption period meanwhile reference reporters are larger and more profitable than their counterparts. Firms increased their segment disclosure after <IR> adoption. Overall, competitive harm concerns, considering industry-based metrics, do not constrict segment disclosure before or under <IR>. However, higher firm (own) profitability suggests proprietary cost motivations for lower disclosure. Larger and more leveraged (only under <IR>) firms are more likely to be multi-segmented or report a higher number of segments.