ESG Reporting in HK - Ricky

Integrated Reporting in an Internet and Social Media
Communication Environment: Conceptual Insights
Sumit Lodhia, Associate Professor, University of South Australia Business School

Gerard Stone, University of South Australia Business School
This paper discusses the potential role of Internet communication technologies, including social media, in the
integrated reporting process. A media richness framework provides a conceptual basis to examine the features of
Internet technologies, which can facilitate the important external communication aspect of integrated report-
ing. We find that Internet technologies possess rich features and capabilities that have potentially significant
application in enhancing external communications with integrated reporting stakeholders. We also identify
risks and challenges associated with utilising Internet technologies to enable the external communication aspect
of integrated reporting. Through its focus on the potential role of Internet communication technologies in inte-
grated reporting, the paper extends the nascent integrated reporting literature and accounting communications
research. The paper also offers practical guidance and insights for business and accounting’s integrated reporting
communication practices. To our knowledge, this is the first conceptual paper to comprehensively examine the
role of Internet communication technologies in integrated reporting.
C
urrent reporting practices have isolated finan- integrated reporting, and consequently, integrated re-
cial and sustainability reporting, leading to the ports. We examine the technologies’ role in facilitating
production of numerous stand-alone reports of the fundamentally important external communication
organisational performance (de Villiers et al. 2014). This aspect of integrated reporting.
has resulted in a lack of integration and connectivity The International Integrated Reporting Council
of financial and social and environmental information (IIRC) has led the integrated reporting movement
(Lodhia 2015; Stent and Dowler 2015). Current report- through the release of various discussion papers (IIRC
ing models have also been criticised for failing to provide 2011, 2012a, 2012b). The IIRC describes itself as a ‘global
organisations with a vehicle to communicate their future coalition of regulators, investors, companies, standard
outlook, strategy and value creation story (Simnett and setters, the accounting profession and NGOs’ (IIRC
Huggins 2015). A new corporate reporting paradigm – 2013: 1). It anticipates that integrated reports will replace
integrated reporting – has emerged in an attempt to over- existing reporting requirements and become organisa-
come these shortcomings in extant reporting practices. tions’ ‘primary report’ (IIRC 2011: 6). The projected in-
Integrated reporting brings together material infor- tegrated report readership is, therefore, substantial (IIRC
mation about organisations’ strategy, governance, per- 2011, 2013). Having outlined the potential components
formance and prospects in a way that reflects the com- of an integrated reporting framework in discussion pa-
mercial, social and environmental context within which pers and a consultation draft, the IIRC (2013) issued the
organisations operate (Adams and Simnett 2011). It in- International Integrated Reporting (<IR>) Framework in
tegrates financial information with social and environ- 2013. The <IR> Framework is designed to provide guid-
mental information so that stakeholders are provided ance for organisations that prepare integrated reports
with an holistic account of organisational management and enable consistency in reporting approaches and con-
and performance (Eccles and Armbrester 2011). An in- tent. A number of guiding principles inform the con-
tegrated report is the outcome of integrated reporting, tent and presentation of integrated reports: strategic fo-
a dynamic and ongoing process that culminates in the cus and future orientation, connectivity of information,
release of the report. The quality and utility of the in-
tegrated report is dependent on the reporting process
(Eccles and Armbrester 2011). Hence, it is essential that
Correspondence: Sumit Lodhia, Centre for Accounting, Gover-
the reporting process functions effectively. This paper’s nance and Sustainability, University of South Australia Business
focus is the potential role of Internet-based communica- School, Adelaide, Australia. Tel: +61 8 830 27379; fax: +61 8
tion technologies, including social media, in improving 830 20992; email: Sumit.lodhia@unisa.edu.au
Australian Accounting Review No. 80 Vol. 27 Issue 1 2017 doi: 10.1111/auar.12143 17

Conceptual Insights S. Lodhia & G. Stone
stakeholder relationships, materiality, conciseness, relia- technologies draws upon the features of Internet finan-
bility and completeness, and consistency and compara- cial and sustainability reporting, the guiding principles
bility of information. Content elements that govern the issued by the IIRC (2013) highlight integrated reporting’s
core information in integrated reports are also included distinctive characteristics. It is these characteristics that
in the <IR> Framework: organisational overview and we focus on when discussing the role of Internet-based
external environment, governance, risks and opportu- communication technologies as a potentially critical
nities, strategy and resource allocation, business model, enabler of the integrated reporting process.
performance, outlook, and basis of preparation and pre- This paper’s timely contribution is underscored by
sentation of information. The IIRC (2013: 24) contends de Villiers et al.’s (2014: 1043) study of the ‘embryonic’
that the report’s content elements are ‘fundamentally state of integrated reporting academic research. Further
linked to each other’ and are to be presented in a man- research is necessary to keep pace with ‘the rapid devel-
ner that makes the connections apparent, rather than as opment of integrated reporting policies and practices’
‘isolated, stand-alone sections’. (de Villiers et al. 2014: 1062). In a similar vein, Adams
Amidst these significant developments, the role of (2015: 23) urges accounting researchers to contribute to
communication technologies in the integrated report- and influence the shaping of the integrated reporting
ing process has received limited attention, even though process, ‘a process that has the potential to lead to pro-
the use of Internet communications by organisations, found change’. Exponential growth in web-based tech-
particularly social media, is growing rapidly (Bochenek nologies is increasing both the scale of accounting infor-
and Blili 2013). The IIRC (2012b) states that the use mation and the ways that stakeholders receive, consume
of Internet-based communication technologies in inte- and use that information, and this has led to an ‘ex-
grated reporting warrants exploration. Indeed, it empha- plosion of firm-related Internet content’ (Saxton 2012:
sises that integrated reporting ‘takes advantage of new 293). When combined with the public’s desire for imme-
and emerging technologies’ to achieve interconnections diate access to wide-ranging information about organ-
between content elements and to facilitate stakeholder isations’ ‘operations, practices, finances, performance,
access to additional information they may require to governance, and community, social and environmen-
evaluate organisations’ performance (IIRC 2011: 8). The tal impact’, these developments have major implications
IIRC (2011: 6) contends that this additional informa- for accounting practice (Saxton 2012: 293). The linkages
tion, for example, detailed financial and sustainability between continuous developments in Internet technolo-
information, should ‘move to an online environment’ in gies, the public’s broadening information needs and the
order to ‘de-clutter’ the integrated report which concisely communication aspect of integrated reporting are clear,
conveys only the most material information. and the incentive for research is considerable. However,
If the IIRC’s prediction that integrated reports will be the quantity and scope of research to date is limited
organisations’ primary report comes to fruition, there is (Saxton 2012). This paper addresses this gap in the ac-
a significant need to examine how Internet-based com- counting literature and responds to the IIRC’s call to
munication technologies can be harnessed to enhance explore the role of Internet-based technologies in inte-
the integrated reporting process. Eccles and Armbrester grated reporting.
(2011: 17) are adamant that ‘this process involves far We utilise the media richness framework developed
more than merely producing a single, static document by Lodhia (2004, 2006, 2010, 2012) to examine the
that is posted on the company’s website on an annual potential role of Internet-based communication tech-
basis’. The process will include organisations’ ongoing nologies in improving integrated reporting, and con-
formal and informal communications with their exter- sequently, integrated reports. The next section intro-
nal stakeholders (Adams 2015). The use of the Inter- duces the framework and outlines its theoretical under-
net and associated technologies for integrated report- pinnings. It also explains revisions and extensions to
ing is also driven by stakeholder demand. Evidence of the framework, which account for the features of con-
stakeholder perceptions of integrated reporting in South temporary communication technologies, features that
Africa (Rensburg and Botha 2014) suggests that stake- illuminate the technologies’ potential application in the
holders increasingly prefer to use the Internet to receive integrated reporting process.
corporate information, leading to a need for companies
to respond through web-based communications.
The use of the Internet for financial (Lodhia et al. The Media Richness Framework
2004; Kelton and Pennington 2012; Ojah and Mokoaleli-
Mokoteli 2012; Guillamón-Saorı́n and Martı́nez-López The media richness framework has its origins in media
2013) and sustainability reporting (Adams and Frost richness theory (Daft and Lengel 1984, 1986), which dif-
2004; Cho and Roberts 2010; Hahn and Kühnen 2013; ferentiates between rich and lean media. Daft and Lengel
Junior et al. 2014; Lodhia 2014) has been studied at (1986: 560) describe media richness as a medium’s capac-
length. While integrated reporting through web-based ity to process rich information and consider a medium
18 Australian Accounting Review

C 2017 CPA Australia
S. Lodhia & G. Stone Conceptual Insights
to be rich if it ‘can overcome different frames of reference nological features that facilitate search and analytical
or clarify ambiguous issues to change understanding capabilities. Recognising the group dynamics of com-
in a timely manner’. Essentially, rich media are appro- munication, Valacich et al. (1993) highlight that a major
priate to transmit potentially ambiguous information benefit of contemporary communication technologies
that accompanies the performance of highly equivocal is their capacity to enable concurrency. This refers to
and complex tasks (Kahai and Cooper 2003; Cho et al. the use of technologies to facilitate interaction. Hence,
2009). Lean media, by contrast, are suitable to convey the an additional four criteria – multiple addressability, ex-
well-defined and unambiguous information necessary to ternally recordable, computer processable memory and
perform simpler, less equivocal tasks (Daft and Lengel concurrency – can be derived from revisions to Daft and
1984). Daft and Lengel (1986) operationalise the concept Lengel’s (1986) original media richness criteria (Lodhia
of media richness by proposing four criteria that deter- 2012).
mine a medium’s richness: immediacy, language variety, Lodhia (2004) formulates the media richness frame-
multiple cues and personal source. work by utilising these eight criteria to highlight the
Immediacy refers to the capacity of a medium to pro- potential benefits offered by web-based media over con-
vide timely information. Language variety is a medium’s ventional paper-based media for corporate environmen-
capacity to organise information in various formats to tal reporting. Subsequent studies further developed and
enhance understanding of the information receiver. Un- empirically tested the criteria (Lodhia 2006, 2010, 2012).
derstanding may also be enhanced by the multiplicity of Media richness theoretical perspectives have also been
cues that a medium is capable of providing to present applied in studies of the impact of corporate social
information. The distinction between language variety and environmental website disclosures (Cho et al. 2009)
and multiple cues is that the former focuses on differ- and communications between accountants and the small
ent formats to aid organisation of information while the business sector (Stone 2011, 2012). The media richness
multiple cues criterion focuses on the use of enriched vi- framework is applied to a different context in this paper,
sual formats to enhance the presentation of information that of integrated reporting, thereby expanding its ex-
and generate increased levels of information transfer be- planatory potential. Moreover, the communication po-
tween communicators (Lodhia 2012). Personal source tential of pervasive social media formats is considered in
refers to the level of personalised communication en- conjunction with other Internet-based communication
abled by a medium. A medium facilitates personalised technologies.
communication when it is capable of tailoring infor-
mation to the needs, circumstance and frame of refer-
ence of the information receiver (Daft and Lengel 1986;
Lodhia 2012). The Media Richness Framework and
Daft and Lengel (1986) proposed the media richness Integrated Reporting
criteria at a time when Internet-based communication
technologies, such as email, were in their infancy, and Veltri and Nardo’s (2013: 43) study of the communica-
social media was inconceivable. Thus, the characteris- tion of integrated reporting information by companies
tics of the myriad electronic and computerised forms to their stakeholders indicates that Internet-based tech-
of communication which are a feature of the contem- nologies, including social media, have the potential to
porary business landscape were not considered by the facilitate the external communication aspect of organi-
authors. Indeed Daft and Lengel’s analysis of media rich- sations’ integrated reporting processes.
ness is confined to ‘traditional communication chan- Today, the Internet is no longer a revolutionary
nels’: written letters and memos, telephone and face-to- element in stakeholder relations, but the tools of social
face discussions (Daft et al. 1987: 356). Other authors media and the way in which companies are able to use
subsequently revised and extended Daft and Lengel’s them can be a source of competitive advantage. There
(1986) criteria to take into account the characteristics is increasing evidence that alternative reporting media,
of electronic and computerised communication forms. such as corporate websites, may be a better source of
Sproull (1991) posits that multiple addressability, ex- information on comprehensive firm performance.
ternally recordable and computer processable memory The media richness framework features are used to
are the features associated with rich contemporary com- illustrate the potential role of Internet technologies. The
munication technologies. Multiple addressability refers eight features of integrated reporting application and
to the global reach of technologies to access a poten- risks and challenges associated with utilising Internet
tially mass audience. Externally recordable features en- technologies in the integrated reporting context are sum-
able amendments and additions to be easily made to marised in Table 1 and discussed in this section. The fol-
existing information and a record of the communica- lowing discussion also demonstrates the interaction be-
tion process to be obtained to identify and monitor user tween the framework’s features and how Internet-based
trends. Computer processable memory refers to the tech- technologies exhibit numerous features of rich media.

C 2017 CPA Australia Australian Accounting Review 19
Table 1 An overview of media richness features in relation to integrated reporting

Media richness
framework
features Integrated reporting application Risks/Challenges
Immediacy Integrated reports available immediately. Need to balance continuous reporting with
Continuous reporting is possible. confidentiality and legal constraints. Risk of sensitive
and inaccurate information being released.
Language variety Corporate website and social media platforms Balance necessary between the amount of information
available. Hyperlinks, menus, portals and tags published in integrated reports and information
can be used to organise and integrate moved to web-based environments.
information.
Multiple cues Graphics, animation, multimedia and visual Significant cost and ongoing commitment to web-based
imagery can complement and enhance technologies required to enable online integrated
text-based information. reporting.
Personal source Alerts through social media and customisation of Challenge in attempting to satisfy increased demand for
information for specific stakeholders. non-financial information. Risk that unreliable
non-financial information will impair quality of
integrated reporting.
Multiple Websites and social media provide access to Internet-facilitated communications and relationship
addressability numerous stakeholders; webcasting and development with multiple stakeholders heightens
website conferences can be undertaken. public scrutiny and the risk of attacks on social media.
Externally recordable Information in addition to that in integrated Risk that reporting organisations’ information systems
reports can be made available. Tracking and are inadequate to provide sufficiently detailed
analysis features provide assessment of additional and non-financial information.
stakeholder usage of integrated information.
Computer Search and analytical tools, such as XBRL to Challenge in identifying and reporting the
processable locate and interrogate existing integrated future-oriented information required by stakeholders
memory information. to utilise web-based analytical tools. Associated risks
regarding the accuracy of future-oriented information.
Concurrency Interactivity and collaboration through electronic Risks in publishing online content generated by
surveys and feedback forms, discussion fora, stakeholders. Reporting organisation’s capacity to
wikis, bulletin boards, chatrooms and social publish stakeholder-generated content may be
media communication. restrained by legal considerations.
Immediacy cision makers who need access to the most current and
‘future-oriented’ information.
Immediacy, a medium’s capacity to enable timely com- Internet-based technologies have the potential to fa-
munication, is one of the most important features that cilitate continuous reporting where the time lag between
distinguishes rich and lean media (Kahai and Cooper the occurrence of events and decision makers’ ability to
2003; Dennis et al. 2008; Cho et al. 2009). A signifi- obtain information about the events is dramatically re-
cant benefit of web-based corporate communications is duced. An objective of continuous reporting is ensuring
that information can be disseminated in ‘real time’, a that stakeholders can access sufficient timely informa-
reference to the ability to place and update information tion to make informed decisions (Chapple and Truong
on the Internet at any point in time (Adams and Frost 2015). In research on Internet social and environmental
2004; Lodhia 2012). This feature of rich media assists corporate communication, Lodhia (2012) observed
in overcoming the timeliness limitations of periodic re- companies practicing continuous reporting by using
porting. In their study of corporate social responsibility their corporate websites as the dynamic communication
communication, Adelopo et al. (2012: 238) argue that environment that Adams and Frost (2006) envisioned a
‘the speed of provision . . . with which a targeted audi- decade ago. The companies observed by Lodhia (2012)
ence gains access to corporate communications is just as used a separate audited web portal to report historic
important as the content of the communication itself ’. performance and year-end information. Continuous
The speed with which organisations provide informa- information and disclosures frequently updated and
tion to their stakeholders is an issue of importance to supplemented the year-end information on the com-
the IIRC. Part of its rationale for integrated reporting is panies’ corporate websites. Managers interviewed by
the traditional reporting model’s focus on historic mat- Lodhia (2012) recognised the immediacy benefits of
ters. The IIRC (2011, 2013: 21) contends that this focus continuous web-based communication and believe
no longer satisfies the information requirements of de- that corporate websites will increasingly be used for

ongoing and continuous disclosure. Such management reporting entities, the curators’ role is likely to increase in
approaches respond to investors’ desire for the most order to capitalise on social media’s reporting potential.
timely information to identify ‘issues and opportunities The implications of the immediacy feature of Internet-
in “real time”, as well as track trends “over time”’ based technologies are that the dynamics of reporting,
(Li 2011; Ridehalgh 2011: 146). These findings under- and making stakeholders aware of the availability of
score the potential role of Internet-based technologies integrated information, will change. The IIRC (2013)
in organisations’ integrated reporting process. anticipates that organisations will produce periodic in-
It is argued, however, that organisations need to ap- tegrated reports in accordance with statutory financial
proach the provision of continuous information through reporting cycles and requirements. Internet-based tech-
web-based technologies with caution to prevent sensi- nologies can be harnessed by organisations to ensure that
tive information from being released. In essence, they the information provided in integrated reports is imme-
will need to balance aspirations to provide stakehold- diately available to stakeholders. Moreover, information
ers with the most current information with confiden- can be incrementally updated and revised on corporate
tiality and legal constraints. Achieving this balance is websites and, therefore, continuous integrated reporting
made difficult by the expectation that integrated report is possible. The IIRC (2013) encourages organisations
information is more extensive than what is currently to link this information to their integrated reports by
provided to comply with narrow statutory reporting using Internet-based tools, such as hyperlinks to provide
requirements (Eccles and Armbrester 2011). The IIRC stakeholders with current supplementary information.
(2013) acknowledges that a potential constraint on in- To facilitate the rapid dissemination of integrated infor-
tegrated reporting is the release of sensitive information mation, and as part of their integrated reporting process,
that may damage organisations’ competitive advantage. organisations can utilise Facebook and LinkedIn updates
It also acknowledges that future-oriented information is and tweets to advise stakeholders when updated infor-
‘by nature more uncertain than historical information’ mation is accessible on their corporate websites or to
(IIRC 2013: 22). Nonetheless, it does not accept that this send specific information directly to stakeholders.
excuses organisations from providing stakeholders with
the most current information to assist in their assessment
of the organisation’s future orientation, a guiding prin- Language variety
ciple of the <IR> Framework. An accompanying risk
is the release of inaccurate information as organisations Language variety refers to a medium’s capacity to organ-
sacrifice certainty for ongoing dissemination of informa- ise information in various formats to enhance the un-
tion. In submissions to the IIRC in response to the con- derstanding of the information recipient (Lodhia 2012).
sultation draft of the <IR> framework, organisations Palmer’s (2002) contention that the web provides users
voiced concerns that they were required to ‘crystal ball with a number of levels of richness is evidenced by the
gaze’ to identify and report future-oriented information exponentially evolving formats possible through Inter-
(Simnett and Huggins 2015: 40). This was particularly net communications. Internet-based technologies offer
evident in organisations’ concerns about disclosing in- a variety of ways to disseminate information and these
formation that may aid decision making in the medium various formats and the Internet’s numerous tools, in-
to long term. cluding hyperlinks, menus and web portals, facilitate the
As an Internet-based communication platform, so- organisation of information. This feature of rich me-
cial media offers similar immediacy features by enabling dia can enhance readers’ understanding (Lodhia 2012).
users to exchange information in a timely manner and to Better organisation of information also assists readers
seek and provide rapid feedback through real-time posts to gain a coherent understanding of the connectivity of
and dialogue. A characteristic of social media is ‘short, the financial and non-financial elements in integrated
speedy and numerous conversations’ between users that reports (Simnett and Huggins 2015).
hastens the distribution of information (Kietzmann et al. The IIRC (2011) contends that the information in tra-
2011: 244; Veltri and Nardo 2013). To illustrate, Twitter ditional corporate reports is poorly organised, cluttered
account holders send an estimated 500 million tweets and disconnected, and that this has contributed to con-
each day, while an estimated 4.75 billion pieces of con- fusion among report users. It is critical of the tendency
tent are shared each day on Facebook (Twitter 2015; towards ‘long and complex reports which are impenetra-
Facebook 2015). This extraordinary velocity of infor- ble for many readers’ and urges organisations to remove
mation exchanged on social media has prompted organ- excessive detail from their integrated reports (IIRC 2011:
isations to invest resources in curators who continuously 9). Web portals can be used to organise information by
monitor the social media content and interactions of the storing detailed information related to a particular in-
organisation and its competitors, and who have author- tegrated reporting issue. The IIRC (2013) encourages
ity to post information and update organisations’ social organisations to utilise portals for this purpose and hy-
networking sites (Kietzmann et al. 2011). For integrated perlinks to direct users to detailed online information

that is relevant to, but should not be included in, the an Internet-based accounting language designed specif-
concise integrated report. ically to accommodate financial reporting (Alles and
South Africa is the first nation to have man- Debreceny 2012). The use of tags provided by XBRL
dated integrated reporting by publicly listed companies can guide consistent disclosure practices (Arnold et al.
(Abeysekera 2013). An analysis of 2013 reports by 2012), leading to a common format for online disclosure
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC 2014: 7) concludes that that would enable comparability and extended analy-
South African companies are attempting to ‘cut the clut- sis of integrated information. In the US, the Securities
ter’ in their integrated reports by removing information and Exchange Commission (SEC) has mandated that
from the reports and making it available on corporate publicly traded companies furnish their financial state-
websites. The resulting increase in the volume of infor- ments in interactive data format, specifically XBRL for-
mation on corporate websites needs to be matched by an mat (Janvrin and No 2012; SEC 2013a). The interactive
integrated reporting process which increases user access data format is intended to improve the usefulness of
to Internet-based tools (Herzig and Godemann 2010). financial statement information to investors, a key inte-
Previously observed practices of companies placing large grated reporting stakeholder (SEC 2009; IIRC 2013). It
amounts of material online ‘in a format and style which is contended that XBRL’s integrated reporting potential
reduces the ability of the average website user to access could be enhanced if consistent guidelines are developed
information’ (Adams and Frost 2006: 285) conflicts with for non-financial information, such as sustainability in-
the IIRC’s (2013) guiding principle: connectivity of information. However, its adaptability in creating tags for
formation that improves stakeholders’ ability to access specific information needs suggests that the develop-
and connect information. If the practice had continued, ment of consistent non-financial information tags is not
it would also diminish Internet-based technologies’ po- far off (Watson and Monterio 2011). Thus, XBRL has
tential role to improve integrated reporting by enhancing the potential to provide a common report language and
the organisation of information. More recent corporate format, factors identified as critical in the transition to
website analysis by Lodhia (2012) shows an encourag- integrated reporting (KPMG 2011).
ing increase in companies’ awareness of Internet-based Coordinated use of social media platforms, Internet-
tools’ capacity to organise information. For instance, based tools and corporate websites can further increase
stakeholders were provided with alerts on a noticeboard the formats utilised to organise and disseminate infor-
and accompanying hyperlinks transported stakeholders mation to report users. Eccles and Armbrester (2011:
to updated social and environmental information on 16–17) are adamant that ‘Integrated Reporting must be
the analysed websites. Ernst & Young’s (EY 2013, 2014) considered alongside today’s world of social media and
analysis of 2012 and 2013 South African integrated re- instant communications, which makes it virtually im-
ports found companies generally increased their use of possible to keep information in one channel from cross-
navigation aids, icons and other forms of online cross- ing over into others’. To illustrate, tweets sent to follow-
referencing to enhance the organisation and connectivity ers of an organisation’s Twitter account can succinctly
of information in the reports and on corporate websites. convey news of an important update to the periodic in-
An emerging challenge for reporting entities is balanc- tegrated report. A hyperlink in the tweet can transport
ing the amount of detail published in their integrated re- followers to detailed information on a web portal, which
port and the information moved to online environments. is also connected to the relevant section of the online
PwC (2014) describe this integrating reporting issue as integrated report. Coordinated use of web-based tech-
the ‘conciseness paradox’. EY (2013) has raised concerns nologies in the integrated reporting process may also
that some South African companies are experimenting provide organisations with a competitive advantage in
with and overusing Internet-based tools and formats to their relations with stakeholders (Veltri and Nardo 2013).
the point where information that should remain in the Researchers have uncovered a generally ad hoc approach
integrated report is being removed and placed online. to web-based corporate communications (Luoma-aho
de Villiers et al. (2014) identify the issue as an area war- and Vos 2010; Bonsón and Flores 2011; Weinberg and
ranting future research and question how organisations Pehlivan 2011), creating opportunities for organisations
are to address all the capitals and perspectives suggested who implement coordinated communication strategies
by the IIRC and still produce a concise report. to develop stakeholder relationships, a guiding principle
eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) of the <IR> Framework.
demonstrates the rapidly evolving capacity of Inter-
net technologies to disseminate information in a vari-
ety of formats, organise information and enhance user Multiple cues
understanding. Indeed, the IIRC (2011, 2012b) nomi-
nates XBRL as a technology that should be used in in- Multiple cues refers to the extent to which Internet-based
tegrated reporting to improve the way information is communication technologies are exploited to enhance
created, processed, distributed and analysed. XBRL is the presentation of information (Lodhia 2012). Multiple

cues generate higher levels of information transfer be- formats, for example, the webcasting of social and en-
tween communicators. The increased information trans- vironmental briefings observed by Lodhia (2012), will
fer enables communicators to achieve a clearer under- need to resource their Internet communications accord-
standing of the messages that are being conveyed (Kahai ingly. Providing multiple cues to stakeholders comes at
and Cooper 2003). Media capable of providing multiple a cost compared with the previous widespread practice
cues is richer and suitable to disseminate potentially am- of simply uploading financial statements in text-based
biguous information (Daft and Lengel 1984, 1986; Kahai pdf format onto organisations’ websites. While argu-
and Cooper 2003; Cho et al. 2009). ing that the benefits of online integrated reporting out-
Internet formats range from purely text formats to weigh the costs incurred, Eccles and Armbrester (2011)
enriched multimedia features, graphics and animation, acknowledge that the costs may be significant. A long-
which provide multiple cues (Cho et al. 2009; Lodhia term commitment is also necessary to realise the ben-
2012). Graphics’ capacity to summarise and convey efits of online integrated reporting. Sterne (2010) cau-
complex information in an understandable form has tions against short-term and potentially ill-fated forays
been well-documented (So and Smith 2004; Beattie and into Internet communications by organisations that are
Jones 2008; Hrasky and Smith 2008). In its analysis merely attempting to mimic competitors and avoid the
of South African integrated reports, EY (2013, 2014) impression that they are technologically out of date.
notes an increase in the use of graphics in place of Social media possesses the intrinsic richness of other
lengthy narratives to present information. There is Internet communication forms and is capable of pro-
also increasing evidence that visual imagery, including viding multiple cues to enhance the presentation of inte-
photographs and pictures, previously disregarded as grated information (Lodhia 2012). The social network-
‘empty decoration’, are in fact powerful and persuasive ing sites Facebook and LinkedIn permit users to share
communication devices (Warren 2002; Davison 2007, videos, pictures and audio (Kaplan and Haenlein 2010).
2010, 2015: 2). Persuasive use of visual imagery is By positioning hyperlinks in their social networking site
well illustrated in Vodacom’s integrated reporting. updates, organisations can also transport users to the rich
The company uses cartoon images of smiling and formats they employ to present integrated information
frowning faces to highlight its areas of achievement and on their corporate websites, for instance, webcasts and
disappointment to report users (Vodacom 2013). Gold multimedia presentations. This further demonstrates the
Fields utilises visually rich heat maps in its integrated coordinated use of social media, Internet-based tools
reporting to enhance the presentation of information and corporate websites to facilitate integrated reporting
about risks affecting the organisation, and the severity (Eccles and Armbrester 2011), and the potential role of
and probability of each risk (Gold Fields Ltd. 2015). Internet technologies as critical elements of the inte-
Cho et al.’s (2009) study of corporate social and envi- grated reporting process.
ronmental website disclosures indicates that the impact Despite the IIRC’s (2011, 2012a, 2012b, 2013) repeated
of visual imagery could be further increased through assurances that integrated reporting heralds substantial
the use of animation. These formats offer a range of improvements in the structure and presentation of infor-
communication forms to enhance the presentation mation, we contend that the information contained in
of integrated information. Moreover, they provide integrated reports is potentially ambiguous, particularly
integrated report users with multiple cues that facilitate to report lay readers who are unfamiliar with the dis-
their understanding of the information in the reports. course of financial, social and environmental reporting.
Research on organisations’ online social, environmen- Web-based technologies’ capacity to provide multiple
tal and sustainability reporting by Lodhia (2012) and cues presents organisations with a significant opportu-
Herzig and Godemann (2010) found restricted use of nity to aid reader understanding of the information in
different Internet formats and, therefore, limited con- integrated reports by moving beyond lean text-based
veyance of multiple cues to report users. Organisations content to rich Internet formats. The following is an il-
were hesitant to use rich audio and visual formats that lustration of the impact of rich Internet format. A reader
may not be accessible to stakeholders with limited com- may be confused by the financial information content of
puter and Internet facilities (Lodhia 2012). This con- an integrated report they are reading on a corporate web-
straint and accompanying hesitancy by organisations to site. As an alternative, they can refer to a summary on the
utilise a comprehensive range of Internet formats dimin- website, which is accessed through a hyperlink or menu.
ishes as access to high-speed Internet increases (Gruber The summary is enhanced by graphical depictions of the
et al. 2014). Coinciding with this wider access to high- information, which are embedded in the summary or
speed Internet, the IIRC (2011, 2012b, 2013) encour- accessible through a separate hyperlink or menu. Where
ages organisations to exploit advances in Internet-based the reader’s information requirements are still not met
technologies to achieve innovative approaches to inte- or they are still confused by the information, the reader
grated reporting. Organisations that choose to provide may access a podcast or similar multimedia presenta-
stakeholders with information in enriched multimedia tion, which further clarifies the information content. In

essence, this illustration shows how the presentation fea- further personalise the integrated reporting commu-
tures made possible by Internet communications can be nication process. Email alerts, which depend on being
used in a coordinated manner in integrated reporting able to identify interested stakeholders and their email
to enhance the presentation of information. The differ- addresses, are being superseded by Twitter feeds, and
ent formats, ranging from lean text to rich multimedia, LinkedIn and Facebook posts. Tweets may be particularly
provide multiple cues to facilitate the reader’s under- useful to alert stakeholders when integrated information
standing of the information. relevant to their needs and circumstances is released.
Limiting tweets to a maximum of 140 characters gen-
erates a succinct headline style of communication that
Personal source captures readers’ interest and attention (Saxton 2012).
Organisations are able to efficiently reach stakeholders
This feature of rich media stems from its capacity to per- with a brief tweet or Facebook or LinkedIn post to the
sonalise information to the needs and circumstances of stakeholder’s preferred social media. Stakeholders’ abil-
the information receiver (Lodhia 2012). Media that facility to respond and comment on the Twitter feeds and
itates personalisation of information is inherently richer social media posts, and engage in dialogue with other on-
than media that conveys general information to a wide line users, further personalises the integrated reporting
audience (Daft and Lengel 1984, 1986). The notion of communication process. The IIRC (2013) encourages
a stand-alone integrated report (Eccles and Krzus 2010) organisations to embrace this feature of Internet-based
implies that integrated reporting is aimed at a general technologies to engage with stakeholders and share user-
audience. This has been confirmed by the IIRC (2011, generated content.
2012b, 2013), which consistently maintains that the re- The integrated information on organisations’ websites
port should not attempt to satisfy the information needs or social media platforms can also be personalised and
of all stakeholders. Nonetheless, the IIRC (2013: 8) states tailored to the needs of different stakeholders through the
that the report will also be ‘an “entry point” to more language variety and multiple cues features of Internet-
detailed information’ which may satisfy the particular based technologies. By way of example, XBRL has been
information needs of specific stakeholders. Examples in- touted as providing numerous integrated reporting ben-
clude detailed financial information, lists of subsidiaries efits (Henderson et al. 2011), including permitting stake-
and sustainability reports (IIRC 2013). As discussed, the holders to perform drill-down analysis to extract the de-
IIRC (2011) contends that the detailed information re- tails of aggregated information in financial statements
quired to meet specific stakeholders’ needs should move that meet their information needs, and reducing infor-
to an online environment. mation asymmetry between stakeholders and report-
The South African integrated reporting experience ing entities (Yoona et al. 2010; Alles and Debreceny
shows organisations are increasingly using web portals 2012; Alles and Piechocki 2012; Arnold et al. 2012).1
on corporate websites to store information about sus- Stakeholders’ personal information needs and preferred
tainability and corporate governance, and to complete methods of receiving integrated information can be met
versions of annual financial statements (EY 2013). This through the various Internet formats, ranging from lean
is, however, only one aspect of Internet-based technolo- text-based formats to rich multimedia presentations that
gies’ capacity to personalise information to the needs convey multiple cues to aid understanding. In contrast to
and circumstances of different stakeholders. The IIRC the traditional reporting paradigm, integrated reporting
(2013: 17) considers connectivity of information, a guid- reduces the emphasis on financial information (Eccles
ing principle of the <IR> Framework, is essential to fa- and Armbrester 2011). When coupled with Internet-
cilitate stakeholders’ ability to ‘combine, connect, cus- based technologies’ potential role in integrated report-
tomise, re-use or analyse information’. Organisations ing, this gives a voice to stakeholders whose specific in-
are expected to provide Internet-based navigation tools, formation needs are broader than the financial. In this
such as hyperlinks to enable stakeholders to access in- way, the technologies facilitate the IIRC’s objective of
formation that satisfies their specific integrated infor- providing stakeholders with broad-ranging information
mation requirements (IIRC 2013). A simple click on a sets and explanations of corporate performance (Adams
hyperlink can transfer stakeholders to the information and Simnett 2011).
they seek (Herzig and Godemann 2010). Social media The increased demand for non-financial information
could also be used to cater to the particular informa- that is driven by stakeholders’ information needs and
tion needs of stakeholders, for instance, a LinkedIn or facilitated by web-based technologies presents a chal-
Facebook group of major customers interested in infor- lenge for integrated reporting entities. Harnessing the
mation about an organisation’s current and proposed technologies to personalise information is limited, while
products. practices for the assurance of non-financial informa-
The alerting and customisation features of Internet- tion are under-developed (Simnett and Huggins 2015).
based technologies can be utilised by organisations to Frank (2011: 226) contends that developing frameworks

that safeguard the quality and reliability of non-financial audience at a relatively low cost and with a speed unimag-
information is a challenge that ‘the integrated report- ined in the previously paper-based reporting landscape
ing community . . . will have to deal with in order to (Financial Accounting Standards Board 2000; Saxton
successfully take corporate reporting to a better future’. 2012).
The importance of safeguards is heightened by the con- The literature suggests that access to a large audience
nectivity of financial and non-financial information in is an advantage of the mass communication made possi-
integrated reporting. There is a risk that unreliable non- ble by corporate websites (Adams and Frost 2004; Herzig
financial information will degrade the overall quality of and Godemann 2010; Lodhia 2006, 2012). This generates
information produced (Frank 2011). multiple addressability benefits for organisations that
can disseminate information to a considerable number
of stakeholders. Managers interviewed by Lodhia (2012)
Multiple addressability capitalised on the mass communication capabilities of
their organisations’ websites to target large stakeholder
Multiple addressability is a feature of rich electronic and audiences with an interest in social and environmental
computerised forms of communication (Lodhia 2012). information. There is also evidence of organisations cap-
Internet-based technologies have a global reach and, italising on both the mass communication capabilities of
therefore, provide access to potentially multiple audi- their websites and the multiple cues that rich multime-
ences. This is especially the case when organisations dia provide to simultaneously reach and enhance under-
harness social media. An estimated 75% of adult In- standing of a large number of stakeholders (Cho et al.
ternet users regularly use at least one social network- 2009). Webcasts launched on corporate websites convey
ing site (Pew Research Center 2014). The social me- information to a large stakeholder audience in enriched
dia community is increasingly inhabited by a range of audio-visual formats (Lodhia 2006, 2012). Conferences
demographics; it is no longer primarily the domain broadcast on corporate websites provide multiple stake-
of young Internet users who may not be stakeholders holder audiences with an equally rich communication
of organisations who produce integrated reports (So- experience that facilitates understanding (Loreto et al.
cial Networking Watch 2015). A characteristic of social 2013).
media is rapid evolution as new social networking sites The increasing use of Internet-based technologies to
emerge quickly and challenge the existing social media access multiple audiences presents organisations with
leviathans (Kietzmann et al. 2011). The IIRC recognises an opportunity to nurture valuable connections with
this characteristic. It advises organisations to adapt their large numbers of stakeholders (Jackson 2011). The IIRC
use of social media and other web-based technologies (2013) emphasises the importance of stakeholder re-
for integrated reporting to keep pace with trends and fu- lations and expects that organisations will report on
ture advances (IIRC 2011, 2012b). Notwithstanding this the management and nature of relationships with key
rapidly changing environment, the social networking stakeholders. The reputational benefits that accrue to
sites that are most commonly used by organisations are organisations that create and maintain a network of
Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (Paniagua and Sapena stakeholder supporters are enormous (Bochenek and
2014). Blili 2013). This intangible asset is regarded by the IIRC
To illustrate the global reach of social media and (2013) as a creator of organisational value. Accessing
the resulting access to mass audiences that organ- and courting a mass audience will, however, subject or-
isations find enticing, Facebook’s daily active users ganisations to increasing scrutiny of their financial and
number an estimated 890 million (Facebook 2015). non-financial performance. Studies show that messages
Twitter and LinkedIn boast approximately 600 million with negative sentiment spread quickly on the Inter-
active members (LinkedIn 2015; Twitter 2015). The net, particularly social media where disgruntled stake-
enormity of this audience has propelled social media holders are adept at holding organisations accountable
to the forefront of corporate communications, and most (Bochenek and Blili 2013).2 There is obviously a trade-off
large organisations now adopt social media as an ele- between mass communication benefits and the height-
ment of their communications with their stakeholders ened public scrutiny accompanying the use of Internet-
(Bonsón and Flores 2011; Bolton et al. 2013). These based technologies in integrated reporting. Addressing
organisations are well situated to utilise social media this challenge may result in an increase in clear, entity-
for integrated reporting purposes. Examples include in- specific disclosures and a move away from so-called
tegrated reporting entities Southwest Airlines, which generic ‘boiler plate’ disclosures with limited informa-
has amassed 184 million Twitter followers and Philips’ tion content, which diminish the value-relevance of in-
212 000 followers (Southwest Airlines 2015; Philips tegrated reporting (Simnett and Huggins 2015). While
2015). The IIRC (2011: 8) anticipates that a ‘broad boiler plate disclosures are gradually decreasing, they are
range of stakeholders’ will use integrated reports. Or- still evident in analysed South African integrated reports
ganisations can target and access this large stakeholder (EY 2013; PwC 2014).

Externally recordable mation in organisations’ statutory reports (Herzig and

Godemann 2010; Lodhia 2012). Managers who subscribe
The externally recordable feature enables extensive in- to the principle ‘you can’t manage what you can’t mea-
formation to be made available in addition to the sure’ will increasingly seek evidence of stakeholders’ in-
information in a published integrated report. Or- formation demands to ensure that appropriate resources
ganisations’ websites and Internet-based tools play a are devoted to providing and updating this information
potentially significant role in connecting the report and (Larson and Watson 2011). Log analysis software and
this additional information. This feature of Internet- hit counters are examples of the tools that organisations
based communication technologies facilitates two fun- can use to monitor visits to their corporate websites and
damental goals of integrated reporting. First, the inte- the web portals that store information (Lodhia 2012).
grated report will stand alone as a primary and concise As well as gathering basic information on the number
report that conveys material information (IIRC 2011, of visits to websites and portals, some organisations are
2013). The IIRC (2013) considers that the guiding prin- turning to advanced tools to monitor social media trends
ciples, materiality and conciseness can be achieved by and the subjects of conversation on social networking
including links in the report to disaggregated detailed sites.3 This provides more nuanced insights into stake-
information that appears elsewhere (the IIRC nomi- holders’ information needs (Bochenek and Blili 2013).
nates organisations’ websites as a suitable repository The analysis can, in turn, be a factor in organisations’
for much of this supplementary information). Second, integrated reporting processes by assisting to determine
interconnections between this detailed supplementary the information disseminated on corporate websites and
information and the elements of the integrated report web portals.
will be apparent to assist stakeholders’ decision making The externally recordable feature highlights challenges
and evaluations of organisations’ performance. Connec- for organisations’ internal information systems that sup-
tivity of information is a significant issue to the IIRC port the information requirements of internal users. The
and a characteristic that distinguishes integrated report- systems are critical to integrated reporting, the ongo-
ing from most reporting models (Simnett and Huggins ing process that culminates in the integrated report.
2015). EY (2014) notes generally improved connectivity Thus, considering the information systems and needs
of information in its analysis of South African integrated of internal users is warranted. An investigation of South
reports. This is particularly apparent in the increasingly African integrated reporting by PwC (2012: 1) suggests
clear connections between organisational strategies, ma- that while existing information systems capture suffi-
terial issues, key performance indicators and discussion cient information to allow a ‘broad-based approach’ to
of risk. However, lack of connectivity of information re- reporting, they may be inadequate to provide ‘sufficient
garding strategy, risk and performance is identified as detail in important areas’. Further analysis of the content
a weakness (EY 2014). PwC (2014: 19) contends that of South African integrated reports indicates that current
close analysis of integrated reports reveals ‘cracks’ and information systems are generally geared towards pro-
inadequate connecting of information. Its analysis finds viding large amounts of financial information and may
that information about governance and future outlook be inadequate to facilitate reporting the environmental,
are frequently left to ‘stand on their own’ (PwC 2014: societal and future-oriented information required un-
7). Hyperlinks and menus are examples of the Internet- der the <IR> Framework (Hanks and Gardiner 2012;
based tools that can be used to connect these interrelated Solomon and Maroun 2012; van Zyl 2013). This is a
information sets within the integrated report and on matter of concern to the IIRC, which has stated that
corporate websites. In many cases, connectivity can be organisations may incur considerable costs to upgrade
improved by increased use of the navigation aids, icons their information systems to meet the requirements of
and other forms of online cross-referencing that are be- integrated reporting (IIRC 2011). There is a need for sys-
coming a feature of organisations’ integrated reporting tems that facilitate tracing the interconnections between
(EY 2013, 2014). financial and non-financial information sets, including
An arguably important aspect of storing detailed in- areas where measurement metrics are underdeveloped
formation online and providing stakeholders with ac- (de Villiers et al. 2014). Simnett and Huggins (2015: 41)
cess to the information is identifying and monitoring contend that this may challenge many organisations be-
trends in stakeholders’ information needs and demands. cause ‘processes for considering, evaluating and commu-
This is a further feature of rich Internet-based com- nicating financial and non-financial performance have
munication technologies, which has potential applica- been, and continue to be, siloed’. The IIRC (2011) views
tion in integrated reporting (Lodhia 2012). Discussion silos as a major cause of the disconnection of informa-
of the issue is conspicuously absent from the account- tion in traditional reporting (IIRC 2011: 2). It intends
ing literature even though corporate websites are often to dismantle the silo approach to achieve connectivity of
used to provide information that supplements the infor- information in integrated reporting.

Computer processable memory clarify its specific information requirements, the IIRC
(2013) directs integrated report preparers to provide
This feature of rich media provides search and ana- lead indicators, objectives, forecasts and projections, and
lytical tools that can be used to locate and interro- sensitivity analyses. This future-oriented focus indicates
gate organisations’ integrated information. Search facil- that analytical tools will be increasingly important and
ities provide ease of access to specific information while valuable in an integrated reporting environment. Users
analytical tools can assist in manipulating information stand to access a range of information that can be manip-
for analysis. These facilities exist in traditional paper- ulated by Internet-based analytical tools to aid decision
based media. However, they are only available manually making. For instance, tools can be used for forecasting
and this is cumbersome and time-consuming (Lodhia in regards to different scenarios and projections. Analyt-
2012). The IIRC (2013: 17) anticipates that integrated ical tools can also assist users to analyse trend-based data
report users will be able to quickly ‘access, combine, con- and make projections about an organisation’s future per-
nect (and) customise’ information, and perform analysis formance, independent of the forecasts published by or-
using Internet-based tools and technologies. ganisations in their integrated reports. This independent
XBRL emerges as a critical tool to enable the com- analysis adds rigour to users’ decision-making process.
puter processable memory feature of Internet-based Given the uncertainty inherent in future projections, or-
technologies in integrated reporting. In contrast to users ganisations will need to advise stakeholders that the use
searching for specific information in paper-based for- of these tools is based on assumptions and estimates of
mat or in online documents that have relatively limited future trends. This disclosure is recommended in the
search capability, interactive data facilitates ‘immedi- <IR> Framework.
ately (extracting) specific information and comparing What is good in theory may, nonetheless, be con-
it to information from other companies, performance fronting to organisations that are accustomed to re-
in past years, and industry averages’ (SEC 2013b: 1). porting predominantly historic information (Cooper
This accessibility and interactivity is achieved through and Morgan 2013). Reporting forward-looking infor-
a so-called ‘tagging’ process (Arnold et al. 2012). XBRL mation is a challenging prospect for these organisations.
converts financial information in documents into a The abovementioned concerns voiced by organisations
computer file which has XBRL codes. The resulting com- about being required to ‘crystal ball gaze’ to identify and
puter readable document can be downloaded in formats report future-oriented information illustrates this chal-
that permit user analysis (Gomaa et al. 2011; Alles and lenge (Simnett and Huggins 2015: 40). While Internet-
Debreceny 2012; Arnold et al. 2012). The process based tools facilitate integrated reporting by providing
has been described as a ‘fundamental revolution in report users with analytical techniques, are organisations
financial reporting’ (Plumlee and Plumlee 2008: 354). providing the future-oriented information for analysis?
As discussed, we contend that XBRL has the potential PwC (2014) reports that of the South African compa-
to change the dynamics of financial and non-financial nies that issued integrated reports in 2013, 52% pro-
information dissemination but it is the ability to analyse vided users with interactive web-based reports. How-
this information electronically which is arguably the ever, the information reported was primarily historic.
greatest benefit of this tool. Stakeholders have access to Companies offered limited insights about their future
both static data in integrated reports and the ability to prospects. Where attempts were made to report forward-
generate their own data according to their specific an- looking information, it concentrated on the short term;
alytical needs (Armbrester 2011). Integrated reporting reporting on the medium and long term was ‘virtually
practices indicate that some organisations are amenable non-existent’ (PwC 2014: 7).
to using Internet-based technologies to provide stake-
holders with greater access to data for analysis. Examples Concurrency
include BASF and Philips disclosing the underlying data
from their corporate reports and giving users the facility Concurrency, the final criterion of the media richness
‘to literally build your own report’, which is customised to framework, captures the interactive capabilities of web-
suit their analysis requirements (Armbrester 2011: 175). based technologies that allow organisations to directly
A key objective of integrated reporting is providing engage with, rather than merely disclose information
report users with forward-looking information. This is to, their stakeholders. This is a vital feature of Inter-
demonstrated in the IIRC’s (2013) adoption of future net communications, which has the potential to trans-
orientation as a guiding principle of the <IR> Frame- form integrated reporting. In essence, interactive capa-
work. It has also adopted future outlook as a content ele- bilities change the dynamics of reporting; engagement
ment that governs the content of integrated reports. The replaces one-directional reporting. Interactivity between
IIRC (2013: 16) believes that future orientation ‘guides organisations and stakeholders can be achieved and en-
the selection and presentation of (report) content’. To hanced by a range of Internet-based tools, including

online surveys, feedback and bulletin boards, discussion engagement is still feasible. An exemplar is Credit Suisse’s
fora, wikis, chatrooms and social media. use of dedicated social media accounts to engage with
Corporate communications research suggests that different stakeholders. Twitter is used to concisely con-
organisations have previously utilised email in at- vey messages to journalists. Separate Facebook accounts
tempts to engage with their stakeholders. More so- provide information to its banking customers and recent
phisticated Internet-based tools that facilitate two- graduates who are prospective employees.
way organisation–stakeholder communications were not For integrated reporting, the increased interaction be-
being effectively harnessed (Guthrie et al. 2008; Herzig tween organisations and their stakeholders on social me-
and Godemann 2010; Lodhia 2012). Notable exceptions dia is timely. The IIRC (2013: 18) states that the quality of
include Shell’s use of an online discussion forum to pro- relationships with stakeholders is demonstrated through
vide its stakeholders with a medium to engage in dialogue an organisation’s ‘decisions, actions and performance, as
with the company and each other about Shell’s corpo- well as ongoing communication’ (emphasis added). Or-
rate social responsibilities (Unerman and Bennett 2004). ganisations are expected to demonstrate ‘a willingness to
The exponential growth of social media has shaken many engage’ with stakeholders, and their integrated reports
organisations out of this state of communications iner- will ‘provide insight’ into how an organisation ‘under-
tia and most now utilise social media in their corporate stands, takes into account and responds to (stakehold-
communications and stakeholder interactions (Bonsón ers’) legitimate needs and interests’ (IIRC 2013: 12, 17).
and Flores 2011; Bolton et al. 2013). The notion of a Analysis of South African integrated reports draws atten-
virtual community of online users with shared interests tion to social media’s potential role in engaging stake-
is being embraced by an increasing number of organisa- holders and developing stakeholder relationships. EY
tions that measure their social media interactions with (2013: 11, 2014) contends that reporting on stakeholder
stakeholders according to the level of interaction and responsiveness is generally ‘poorly handled’ and there is a
the number of recurring visits that stakeholders make lack of insight into how and to what extent organisations
to their social networking sites. Sheer volume measures, consider and respond to stakeholders’ needs. Statements
such as the number of people who ‘follow’, ‘friend’ or about stakeholder relationships tend to be generic (EY
‘like’ on organisations’ social networking sites are con- 2013). Where interaction with stakeholders is reported,
sidered to be less important measures of engagement and there is insufficient disclosure of how the interaction
interaction (Bochenek and Blili 2013). influences organisations’ strategic direction (EY 2014).
The creation of user-generated content is indicative Saxton (2012) is optimistic about Twitter’s role in build-
of organisations interacting with their stakeholders on ing stakeholder relationships and overcoming this inad-
social media (Nair 2011). As discussed, the IIRC (2013) equacy in integrated reporting. Studies that indicate that
encourages organisations to engage with stakeholders Twitter possesses characteristics which are particularly
and share user-generated content. Riney (2011) argues beneficial in online business interactions tend to justify
that social networking sites should be exploited by inte- this optimism. Compared with Facebook, Twitter is rel-
grated reporting entities to engage with their customers, atively simple to use and, unlike Facebook, the relation-
a major stakeholder, in online co-creation communi- ship between users is not predicated on friendships or
ties. Co-creation involves stakeholders giving candid acquaintances (Kaplan and Haenlein 2011; Paniagua and
feedback about an organisation’s existing or proposed Sapena 2014). An example of Twitter’s role is facilitating
practices. The process evidences transparent engagement ongoing engagement with investors. This can develop
with stakeholders, assists shape strategic decision mak- relations with this key integrated reporting stakeholder
ing, and the organisation’s integrated reporting can be by mediating the dissemination of information and re-
used to communicate the user-generated content and ducing information asymmetries in the market (Saxton
outcomes. Organisations’ ability to publish content gen- 2012). By enabling ongoing engagement with investors
erated by users of their social networking sites may, and other providers of capital, Twitter also contributes
however, be limited and this gives rise to risks and to the materiality determination process that integrated
challenges associated with the potential role of Internet- reporters are required to undertake. The IIRC (2013)
based technologies in integrated reporting. For instance, nominates regular engagement with providers of capi-
Credit Suisse is restrained by legal considerations that tal as an important practice that identifies the relevant
restrict the financial services company from publishing matters that are central to the integrated reporting ma-
user-generated content on its Facebook and Twitter sites teriality determination process.
(Bochenek and Blili 2013). Organisations operating in
similar environments need to confine their engagement
with stakeholders on social media to ‘push communi- Concluding Comments
cation’ where messages are disseminated to stakeholders
(Bochenek and Blili 2013: 158). While interaction by We concur with Adams and Simnett (2011: 293) –
way of online dialogue is not possible, some degree of ‘integrated reporting is poised to be an evolution of

Table 2 Interconnections between guiding principles and mation needs are some of the features of Internet-based
media richness features communication technologies that organisations can har-
Guiding principles Media richness framework features ness to facilitate integrated reporting. Organisations are
r Immediacy able to efficiently communicate with multiple stake-
Strategic focus and
future orientation r Externally recordable holder audiences, provide stakeholders with detailed on-
r Computer processable memory line supplementary information which is interconnected
r Language variety with the components of the concise integrated report,
Connectivity of
information r Multiple cues analyse and respond to stakeholders’ information re-
r Personal source quirements, and provide stakeholders with greater access
r Externally recordable to online data, search and analytical tools. Stakeholder
Stakeholder r Language variety engagement and relationship development, important
relationships r Multiple cues outcomes of integrated reporting, can be propelled to
r Personal source previously unattainable levels by the interactive features
r Multiple addressability
r of web-based tools and social media.
Concurrency
Identifying risks and challenges that accompany Inter-
Materiality r Language variety net technologies’ role in facilitating the external commu-
r Multiple cues
r nication aspect of integrated reporting contributes to the
Externally recordable
r Concurrency
research base and will be of interest to integrated report-
ing entities. The risks and challenges are not inconsider-
Conciseness r Language variety
r Multiple cues able. The cost of using web-based technologies to enable
r Externally recordable integrated reporting is significant and will require a long-
term commitment to realise the potential benefits in
Reliability and r Immediacy
r Personal source communications with stakeholders. Internet-facilitated
completeness
r Computer processable memory communications with multiple stakeholder audiences
and increased stakeholder engagement on social media
Consistency and r Language variety
r Multiple cues opens organisations to increased public scrutiny and at-
comparability of
information r Computer processable memory tack from disgruntled stakeholders who are practiced
at using social networking sites to communicate their
grievances about corporations’ practices and policies.
South African integrated reporting indicates that report-
mainstream reporting’. As integrated reporting devel- ing entities are overusing Internet technologies in an at-
ops at a pace, there is a significant need for research tempt to achieve concise reports. A balance between what
that informs and contributes to its formative early stages information is included in the primary integrated report
(Adams 2015). This paper contributes to the ‘embryonic’ and information that is moved to an online environment
research literature (de Villiers 2014: 1043). It also offers is yet to be achieved. Our paper has also identified inade-
insights that have practical application for business and quacies in integrated reporting practices that web-based
accounting communities, which need to revise their re- technologies can assist organisations to address. This is
porting and communication practices if they choose or demonstrated in Twitter’s potential role in developing
are required to adopt integrated reporting. stakeholder relationships, an area of great importance
Our paper indicates that Internet-based technologies to the IIRC, which warrants attention based on short-
have a potentially critical role in enabling the external comings in the reporting of stakeholder relationships in
communication aspect of integrated reporting. The tech- South African integrated reporting.
nologies, including social media platforms, which are The application of Internet-based communication
widely used by organisations, possess well-recognised technologies to integrated reporting, conceptualised
and nascent features that can enhance the communica- through the media richness framework, is offered as a
tion aspect of stakeholder-inclusive integrated reporting. way forward for organisations grappling with the inte-
This becomes evident when the features are considered grated reporting process. The challenges of integrated
alongside the guiding principles of the <IR> Framework reporting are acknowledged, including those brought
(Table 2). about by the use of technologies. However, it is the po-
Timely communication of current and future- tential for transformation of existing reporting practices
oriented information for stakeholders’ decision-making, where integrated reporting will have the greatest impact,
improved presentation, organisation and connectivity and technologies have a vital role in this change in the
of information, enriched communication formats that corporate reporting paradigm. As integrated reporting
convey multiple cues to increase stakeholder under- evolves, future research could assess the extent to which
standing, and personalising information to match dif- the potential of the Internet and social media, identi-
ferent stakeholders’ increasingly broad-ranging infor- fied in this paper, are actually used by organisations in

their integrated reporting practice. Such research could Armbrester, K. 2011, ‘Leveraging the Internet for Integrated
involve analysis of corporate website and social media Reporting’, in R. Eccles, B. Cheng and D. Saltzman (Eds), The
communication. Interviews with managers could also Landscape of Integrated Reporting: Reflections and Next Steps,
provide insights into the drivers and barriers to utilising The President and Fellows of Harvard College, Cambridge,
such technologies for external communication. MA: 174–75.
Arnold, V., Bedard, J.C., Phillips, J.R. and Sutton, S.G. 2012,
‘The Impact of Tagging Qualitative Financial Information on
Notes Investor Decision Making: Implications for XBRL’, Interna-
tional Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 13 (1): 2–20.
1 For more critical analysis of XBRL and the potential issues as-
sociated with its use, see Cordery et al. (2011), Debreceny et al. Beattie, V. and Jones, M. 2008, ‘Corporate Reporting Using
(2011), Steenkamp and Nel (2012) and Vasarhelyi et al. (2012). Graphs: A Review and Synthesis’, Journal of Accounting Litera-
2 Well-publicised cases of organisations being subjected to scrutiny ture, 27 (1): 71–110.
are BP over its involvement in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010
and Nestlé sourcing ingredients for its products from a company Bochenek, L.M. and Blili, S. 2013, ‘Social Media Champions
accused of felling rainforests in Indonesia. In both cases, the – Drivers and Sophistication Process of Social Media Strate-
organisations encountered significant opposition and ongoing gic Management’, in M.R. Olivas-Luján and T. Bondarouk
negative publicity on social media (Steel 2010; Bochenek and (Eds), Social Media in Strategic Management (Advanced Series in
Blili 2013). Management, Volume 11), Emerald Group Publishing Limited,
3 Advanced tools assist in monitoring ‘conversation velocity’: the Bingley, UK: 143–67.
rate and direction of change in conversations on social network-
ing sites (Kietzmann et al. 2011: 244). Metrics include: sentiment Bolton, R.N., Parasuraman, A., Hoefnagels, A., Migchels, N.,
(the ratio of mentions about an organisation on social network- Kabadayi, S., Gruber, T., Loureiro, Y.K. and Solnet, D. 2013,
ing sites that are positive to those that are negative); passion (how ‘Understanding Generation Y and Their Use of Social Media: A
often certain users talk about an organisation); and reach (the Review and Research Agenda’, Journal of Service Management,
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Integrated Reporting in an Internet and Social Media

Communication Environment: Conceptual Insights

Sumit Lodhia, Associate Professor, University of South Australia Business School

Australian Accounting Review No. 80 Vol. 27 Issue 1 2017 doi: 10.1111/auar.12143 17

18 Australian Accounting Review

Table 1 An overview of media richness features in relation to integrated reporting

20 Australian Accounting Review

22 Australian Accounting Review

24 Australian Accounting Review

Externally recordable mation in organisations’ statutory reports (Herzig and

26 Australian Accounting Review

28 Australian Accounting Review

30 Australian Accounting Review

INTERNATIONAL-IR-FRAMEWORK-2-1.pdf, accessed 3 International Journal of Digital Accounting Research, 6 (11):

32 Australian Accounting Review

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