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This study provides an analysis of the possibility of companies in Indonesia to adopt integrated reporting (IR). This is undertaken by comparing the degree of conformity between current reporting disclosures with that of the IR framework.

A mixed-method approach is employed, which entailed using both quantitative and qualitative techniques to access data. For the quantitative analysis, a total of 64 companies are chosen, which represent companies with significant market capitalization included in the LQ45 index (an index for the 45 most liquid stocks) in 2016 and the non-LQ45 by publishing a sustainability report. These companies are selected on the basis of high levels of disclosure compared with other companies and serve as an appropriate benchmark for other listed companies. The level of disclosure conformity is employed using 39 principle disclosure indices and 76 content disclosure indices based on the IR framework. For the qualitative analysis, interviews were conducted with nine interviewees that are considered as experts in the field of IR. The interviews are conducted to assist in providing explanations for the findings.

The results indicate that approximately 60% of companies (mostly in the banking, finance and mining industries) have an adequate degree of conformity, reflecting their higher probability of voluntary compliance to apply the IR framework. However, the principles of conciseness and connectivity of information provide significant challenges for Indonesian firms when they will consider implementation. Further analysis using in-depth interviews with experts showed that several factors from various perspectives should be considered in shifting to IR.

This study provides empirical evidence on the current reporting landscape of Indonesian firms. Scant research is available on the possible adoption of IR in emerging markets such as Indonesia. Hence, this project raises further possible explanations for the challenges and pressures faced by Indonesian firms in an era of changing stakeholder expectations.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how accountability and transparency was used to inform the local community and support the decision-making of the Surf Coast Shire (SCS) with respect to the development of an aquatic and health centre.

This project investigates a case study of a proposed aquatic and leisure centre located within the SCS (Victoria-Australia). The paper draws on content analysis and an interpretative approach to critically analyse publicly available archival documents sourced from the SCS, consultant reports and the popular press.

Providing extensive disclosure for a major capital works project and engaging the community to determine support for such a project was undertaken for reasons of accountability and transparency. However, community feedback has provided evidence of divisions between and within local township communities.

This project illustrates that being transparent and communicating accounting information via different forums can create significant community engagement to facilitate council decision-making albeit at a cost to some social disharmony.

It is typical for local councils to prepare budgets that inform the community how funds will be expended. In this case, the council has sought feedback from the community before a capital-intensive decision has been made. This approach extends the notion of accountability by disclosing managements’ decision-making apparatus.

It is 10 years since the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) was founded and the development of the IIRC Framework has been adopted by thousands of organisations. This paper aims to provide empirical evidence on the motivation for the preparation of integrated reports from a diffusion of innovation (DOI) perspective.

Three case study organisations operating in distinct industry sectors are investigated to ascertain the motivation for the adoption of integrated reporting. DOI theory was adopted as the theoretical lens to guide the research design. An interpretative approach is used to ascertain common themes from an analysis of semi-structured interview transcripts of senior managers and directors.

The findings from these case studies support the main tenets of DOIs theory. The evidence suggests that senior executive leadership plays a significant role in commencing the integrated reporting “journey”. This study finds evidence of DOI characteristics, such as relative advantage, compatibility and observability with respect to the objectives of senior managers. The main motivations for the production of the integrated report were to demonstrate leadership and innovation to stakeholders, overcome the perceived inadequacies of the disclosures required for traditional annual reports, to enhance transparency and to satisfy the changing demands of investors and other stakeholders.

This project captures the perceptions and views of preparers of the integrated report rather than its users. In addition, only three case study sites were investigated, therefore, generalisations would be spurious.

Other organisations yet to consider the production of integrated reports or to re-assess their stakeholder relationships, could use these findings to plan for their own future reporting obligations.

The organisations investigated were a superannuation fund, a multinational company and a charity. All are recognised leaders in their respective industries.

The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) has promulgated the production of integrated reports to enhance transparency and encourage improved stakeholder relationships. The purpose of this study/paper is to explore how managers prioritize the needs of stakeholders and to what extent integrated reporting is associated with those stakeholder relationships.

The paper uses a case study/interpretative approach to compare the underlying motivation for the preparation of an integrated report across three case study sites from three different industry groups. Face-to-face and telephone semi-structured interviews, email correspondence and a review of the integrated reports form the basis for the data collection and analysis.

The case studies investigated for this project provide evidence that integrated reporting did motivate further stakeholder engagement to increase the organizations’ legitimacy and transparency. Overall, the authors found that the three case study organizations used the production of an integrated report to cement their place as a “leader” in their respective industry group. Moreover, managers regarded the current statutory accounts as inadequate in communicating and engaging with a broad range of stakeholders. There were elements of enhancing, defending and repairing legitimacy and managers tended to equate legitimacy with transparency.

Three case study sites were selected on the basis of producing exemplary integrated reports, and senior executives provided their views on stakeholder engagement. For the scope of this study, the stakeholders themselves were not involved in this investigation which can be viewed as a limitation.

The international IIRC Framework is built upon the notion that stakeholders are integral to assisting the organization in creating value. The outcomes of this investigation suggest that for preparers, the incumbent organization is reliant on the leadership of senior managers (inclusive of the chief executive officer) and directors to actually instigate the process. In Australia and New Zealand, given that integrated reporting is not mandatory, regulators have no influence over the scope, content and veracity of integrated reports. It seems likely that further stakeholder engagement will become intrinsic to the business model of organizations as a means to quell any notion that it is engaging in greenwashing.

The value of this paper is to contrast how three quite distinct organizations are using their integrated reports to communicate their approach to stakeholder engagement. Stakeholder salience dimensions are used to explore the importance attributed by senior managers.

Although notions of efficiency and effectiveness with regards to government operations are not new, there has been a fundamental shift in the manner in which services are provided. One objective of government is to provide services at least cost, whilst maintaining or improving service quality. This may be the main goal, but questions are now being asked whether the service ought to be provided directly by the government or by the private sector. The shift of services from the public to the private sector is known as outsourcing or competitive tendering and contracting out (CTC). The objective of this study is to investigate if and how accounting information is used by public sector managers in a major cultural institution to decide whether a service ought to be contracted out. The contracting out of security services for the State Library and Museum of Victoria is used as a case study of contracting out. An avoidable‐cost approach was used to determine the level of estimated savings from contracting out and these were verified by external accountants. There were diffeences of opinion among management staff as to the reason for contracting out security services. Some believed it was dollar driven, others believed that qualtiy and image were the underlying reasons. Nevertheless, the accounting system did drive, in part, the decision to investigate the possibility of contracting out security.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate resilience to extreme weather events (EWE) in a sample of Italian local councils (LCs), impacted by flood disasters. Whether resilience as a concept is adopted by the affected councils and factors that promote or inhibit LC resilience are explored.

Using semi-structured interviews, the authors investigate seven Italian LCs that were severely impacted by the flood event. An interview protocol was developed and background information collected. A number of themes were drawn from the interview transcripts and relationships with the relevant literature were examined.

The findings highlight that the adoption of the concept of resilience is at an early stage in the LCs decision and policy making. The authors find that the financial resources and the external relations management with other public entities, NGOs and local communities, promote the LCs resilience during and after an EWE. By contrast, bureaucratic constraints and poor urban planning restrain resilience. The findings suggest that LCs resilience needs to be distinguished from local community resilience.

The paper contributes to the literature on public sector management and investigates the under-researched area of resilience within the context of the public sector, vis-à-vis, local government. In particular the realization that EWE are not the realm only of emergency personnel, but that local government managers have an integral role placed upon them during and especially after the EWE.

In Australia, the public sector represents a significant component of the Australian economy and is a major employer across all states and territories. A constant stream of public sector management reforms has occurred over the last decade. These reforms include accrual accounting and budgeting, whole of government reporting, privatisation and contracting out to name a few. This would suggest that accounting graduates applying for positions at government agencies would benefit from some knowledge of these significant reforms. This paper aims to examine the perceptions of accounting academics as to barriers to public sector accounting (PSA) education in Australia and identify strategies for making the accounting curriculum more public sector inclusive.

Two data collection methods were employed in order to attain a comprehensive picture of the state of PSA education in Australia. Telephone interviews were undertaken with accounting academics across a carefully selected range of universities. This selection ensured representation across the core accounting units to gain an indication of the extent of public sector coverage in the core accounting subjects. In‐depth face‐to‐face interviews were then conducted at five universities across five states of Australia to probe further issues that emanated from the telephone interviews.

The findings suggest that in general, there is very limited teaching of PSA in Australian universities' accounting degree programs. Of the universities studied where issues regarding the public sector are emphasised, this is mainly due to a few academics who have a research interest in the public sector and so extend this interest into their teaching and the curriculum.

There are a number of strategies identified to achieve greater coverage of PSA in the curriculum. However, the findings suggest that unless the professional accounting bodies require PSA to be included in courses as part of the accreditation process, then it will be difficult to achieve significant improvement in the nature and extent of public sector exposure. Most interviewees argued that a key factor in increasing public sector coverage would be ensuring that the textbook writers for the core accounting units included more PSA examples.

The public sector in general, and PSA education is a neglected area of research. This study is significant as it highlights that although major public sector reforms have occurred in Australia and worldwide, this has had little impact on the accounting curriculum taught to students.

Public private partnerships (PPPs) are a relatively new policy that some governments now use to secure infrastructure assets. The objective of this paper is to document the construction and development of a Victorian state government hospital, Casey Hospital (CH), to identify the essential features of this contract and the relationship between the government and the private sector provider.

A case study approach is employed. The boundaries of the CH case study are limited to the identification of the service or program that was/is subjected to PPP, the reasons for adopting the PPP policy in this instance and what the criteria were that led to a successful/unsuccessful outcome for this project. Data collection methods included interviews with key participants and analysis of archival documentation.

The findings suggest that clear outcomes as specified in the contract specifications, previous experience in the hospital sector and a willingness to be flexible were key factors that resulted in a successful outcome. The government defines success for PPP projects as being built on time and within budget.

Given that governments in Australia and in many developed countries worldwide have now accepted the procurement model known as public private partnerships, further research is required to ensure that future projects meet defined objectives. This study provides an analysis of one case study and further research needs to be carried out for a thorough assessment of this policy.

Casey Hospital was the first hospital in Australia to be constructed and its ancillary facilities operated under the auspices of a PPP policy. This study is significant as public sector managers can use the findings of this report to help inform future decision making with respect to PPP projects.

The purpose of this study is to provide explanations for the factors affecting sustainability disclosures by a local coastal shire council in Australia. Drawing on the theory of accountability, a further aim is to examine how this information is communicated to stakeholders.

A qualitative and case study approach is adopted for this investigation. The main sources of empirical data are semi‐structured interviews with the senior managers of the council, observation and the use of publicly available documentation.

Significant issues relating specifically to this council were identified as managing population growth, planning for land use, climate change and community engagement. These issues were addressed through various forums such as the annual report, a sustainability report and through community engagement meetings. There was also little evidence to suggest that the global reporting initiative is influencing how the local council was accounting for its social and environmental activities.

Coastal regions are fragile areas that are subjected to varying degrees of pressure on their environment. This study suggests that community demand for information on sustainability is commencing to change the content of the council's annual report.

Much attention has been paid to the role and extent of sustainability reporting in the private sector, however, less research has been devoted to investigating this area in the realm of the government sector.