A geographical comparison of assurance on integrated reporting

Abstract

This paper explores the report of the companies. The focus is on Integrated Reporting – IR that presents financial and non-financial information through integrated thinking. An Integrated Reporting presents a hybrid situation because it includes financial information that is subjected to a mandatory audit, and non-financial information that can be assured in a voluntary basis. In this way, the inclusion of assurance information can be seen through a legitimation lens representing the organizations’ effort to increase legitimacy. The motivation behind this paper is to discuss the assurance presented on Integrated Reporting. The research’s objective is to provide an analysis on the differences between companies from different geographical origins related to the assurance provided on Integrated Reporting. The methodological approach is characterized by a qualitative study on the assurance included in Integrated Reporting. The empirical analysis is related to the analysis of the reports of 45 organizations. We find that the company’s geographical origins implicate differences in the information disclosed related to assurance. The paper’s contribution consists on new insights into the emergent field of assurance on Integrated Reporting with the increase of the understanding of the assurance report’s characteristics, which are disclosed by companies from different geographical settings.