Information used to manage the business and support the decision‐making of stakeholders is being subject to an evolution. In this context, traditional financial reporting is considered not sufficient anymore. This has translated into a sharp increase in the number of firms that have begun to adopt emerging reporting practices. This study aims to examine the influence that both firm‐ and country‐specific characteristics have on the voluntary uptaking of integrated reporting internationally. In order to do so, it analyses a sample of 71 international listed companies that have adopted this reporting form in 2016. The results show that firms are more likely to implement integrated reporting if they are located in countries with a higher level of corruption perception and a better risk rating and that are considered as relatively more collectivist and feminist and with a long‐term orientation. Legal system has resulted to be not significant. As for firms' characteristics, large size, profitability, market‐to‐book ratio, and the size of the board are found to be significant variables. Moreover, the results indicate that the adoption of integrated reporting is not influenced by a higher level of leverage, firm efficiency and board diversity and independence.

Three years ago we launched this special issue of the European Accounting Review devoted to research on intangibles and intellectual capital. Clearly we are now living in an interesting world: constantly intensifying competition, and events such as the bursting of the technology bubble, the disappearance of many new economy companies (dotcoms, etc.), the stagnation of the world economy, not to mention the 11 September tragedy, have all contributed to significant change, and even vanishing of a large part of companies' intangibles.However, we strongly feel that the basic issues indicated in our Call for Papers are still relevant. We would like to point out below both the reasons why intangibles are still very important and some of the conceptual issues the research on this subject faces.In the original Call we wrote:It is largely accepted that we are witnessing a new phase in economic development which is characterised by continuous innovation, the spread of digital and communication technologies, the relevance of network forms of organisation, as well as the prevalence of soft, intangible and human factors. . . . Innovative notions of wealth such as those of intellectual capital, relational capital, and organisational capital are emerging, whilst old concepts -such as human capital -are acquiring a fresh significance on conceptual and practical grounds. . . . The very management of organisations is coming to terms with the larger role played by intangible, non-financial factors. Accordingly, new theoretical and operational tasks are imposed on management accounting for capturing and understanding the multiple levels of today's organisational performance. . . . The traditional notion of value itself seems to be at stake, being linked eminently to financial, short-term variables, which are oriented only towards the shareholders' interest.We strongly believe that intangibles are the major drivers of company growth. In an economy where innovation, ICT technologies, and networks and alliances,

Nowadays, we are facing a new phase of capitalism. Information that is beyond financial capital and able to provide a more comprehensive picture of the path towards sustainable development of organizations is increasingly needed. A remarkable body of evidence already exists on how large listed companies are facing this change, but very little is known about small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This work aims to analyse if and to what extent new forms of reporting such as sustainability and integrated reporting are adopted by SMEs to illustrate their journey to sustainable development. To this end, the reports of three Italian SMEs have been examined against the internationally set principles and contents of these reporting models. It emerges that, despite the shared ambition of these reports, they are different in nature and deliver a quite distinctive representation of the concerned SMEs and their ways to pursuing and communicating sustainable development at a micro level.

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