The journey toward the integrated reporting of Italian airport operators: Empirical evidence

Abstract

The increased managerial complexity that emerged in the last decades has also determined the need to quantitatively and qualitatively improve companies' disclosures, especially in relation to how financial or non‐financial performances are achieved. According to the majority of business administrators and accounting scholars, the reporting tool that currently fulfils the aforementioned purposes lies in implementing the so‐called integrated report (<IR>). In this view, this research aims at understanding if and how the Italian airport operators are approaching the drafting of an <IR>. The airport operators' sector is particularly significant because of the relevant social and environmental impact it exerts on the external context. For this reason, it is important to understand how they try to satisfy the stakeholders' requests. Thus, following the format already tested in other similar investigations, this study carries out an analysis of social or sustainability reports published by these companies to determine which of the key elements of the first internationally recognized <IR> are already included in such reports. The findings show that reporting scores range from 40 to 70%. As expected, the current reporting lacks the key connections required from the <IR> and shows a little looking‐forward orientation. Nevertheless, these reports already contain some typical elements of <IR>, such as materiality analysis and stakeholders' engagements, which could constitute the pillars to evolve these reports into a real <IR>.

The SDGs and Non-Financial Disclosures of Energy Companies: The Italian Experience

“…Table 2 presents the results of this assessment. Following the framework proposed by [35], each format section has a score. Regarding the first section-Organizational overview and business model-the scores given to the reports were quite homogeneous, with two cases (Ascopiave and Enel) surpassing those of Eskom and Engie.…”

“…Among the researchers who have applied similar methodologies to <IRs>, sustainability, or social reports (albeit those concerning different types of companies), we can mention-for instance-Mauro et al [33], who examined the <IRs> from universities; Nguyen et al [34] who analyzed reports from listed firms; Thomas and Scandurra [35], who focused on airport operators; and Calabrese et al [36], who assessed sustainability reports from various energy companies (with a specific emphasis on the GRI guidelines).…”

“…The present study follows the format and scoring table used in the most recent of the mentioned articles (Thomas and Scandurra [35] that, in turn, closely mirrors the original Stent and Dowler's [32] approach) with two additions. The first concerns the explicit reference to the SDGs for each type of intervention described by the companies (C6 in Table 1).…”