Intangibles and intellectual capital: an introduction to a special issue

Abstract

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,

Managers’ perceptions of intellectual capital: An empirical study in the Tunisian context

“…Despite the increase awareness given to intangibles, there is a collective lack of understanding and difficulty to link with financial reports (Lev & Zambon, 2003).Therefore, the study of intangibles or intellectual capital has become an important accounting issue in both academia and practice. Despite all the interest in this concept, a plethora of terminologies are used in discussing the intellectual capital in the literature (Zeghal & Maaloul, 2011).…”

“…It is made of three major categories: human capital, structural capital and relational capital (Guthrie & Petty, 2000;Lev & Zambon, 2003;Boedker et al, 2005;Abeysekera, 2008;Mangena et al, 2010). This is the classification used in this study.…”

A Path Model “Why-What-How-When” to Implement an IC Reporting

“…Areas relevant to internal stakeholders are: improving innovation (Sveiby et al, 2012), learning (Mouritsen, 1998;Lev& Zambon 2003), awareness (Marr & Chatzkel, 2004), and the adjustment of intangibles with the strategic vision of the company (Mouritsen, Larsen, & Bukh 2001). For external stakeholders, the development of an organization's correspondence with groups of interest, their corporate image, reputation and the cut-back in the cost of capital (Andriessen, 2004;Bismuth & Tojo, 2008) are considerably more relevant aspects (Wee & Chua, 2016).…”

Influence of Intellectual Capital Investment, Risk, Industry Membership and Corporate Governance Mechanisms on the Voluntary Disclosure of Intellectual Capital by UK Listed Companies

“…Management of high GRWT companies may signal IC to indicate company success (economic theory), management expertise and competence (agency theory) and to maximise shareholder value in the markets (shareholder maximisation). Lev and Stefano (2003) believe that the major drivers of company GRWT are IA, innovation, information and communication technologies, networks and alliances, the quality of human resources and management processes that continue to be vital to companies. These results are consistent with Del Monte and Papagni (2003) who maintained that companies with a strong commitment to R&D had a higher rate of GRWT.…”