Integrated Reporting Impact on Core Organisational Practices: A Practice-Based Perspective

Abstract

This research explores how managers implement integrated reporting (IR) in their organisations and its impact on practices. We use 25 semi-structured interviews with top and middle managers of early adopters' private companies to examine the conditions under which managers initially made sense of IR long before its institutionalisation. Conceptually drawing from practice theory, we show how top and middle managers make sense of (practical intelligibility) IR and how this influences core operational practices. The analysis shows that IR practices can be more or less totalitarian, revealing the importance of the institutional pressures and teleo-affective structures held and promoted by the managers in charge. This research offers a counterpoint to studies that suggest that accounting has a limited impact when practised in a less totalitarian form. It also highlights the importance of affective aspects and the crucial role of managers in these aspects. Given the rapid changes in the regulatory context, understanding how managers make sense of integrated tools is of utmost importance.