IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fan/frfrfr/vhtml10.3280-fr2019-001004.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The level of compliance with the Italian Legislative Decree No. 254/2016 and its determinants: Insights from Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Valter Cantino
  • Alain Devalle
  • Simona Fiandrino
  • Donatella Busso

Abstract

The present research explores non-financial mandatory disclosure in Italy in light of the recent Italian Legislative Decree No. 254/2016, which transposes the Directive 2014/95/EU on "the disclosure of non-financial and diversity information". The study pursues a twofold aim: first, it seeks to measure the level of compliance of non-financial information (NFI) with non-financial mandatory disclosure; and second, it seeks to identify which determinants favor higher compliance levels in the first year of the regulatory adequacy. To these ends, the study examines the non-financial 2017 statements of 50 listed Italian companies to test by means of a NFI Disclosure Score three determinants that could explain the level of compliance. The NFI Disclosure Score was set at 52.58%. Moreover, findings suggest that the type of reporting channels (stand-alone report or disclosure included in the Annual Report), the Guidelines Reporting Initiative (GRI) options chosen by the companies, and the presence of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee within the board all affect compliance levels. This study is one of the first research conducted on mandatory NFI disclosure providing indications for regulators and companies on how to improve NFI disclosure.

Suggested Citation

  • Valter Cantino & Alain Devalle & Simona Fiandrino & Donatella Busso, 2019. "The level of compliance with the Italian Legislative Decree No. 254/2016 and its determinants: Insights from Italy," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2019(1), pages 113-143.
    • Handle: RePEc:fan:frfrfr:v:html10.3280/fr2019-001004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=64285&Tipo=ArticoloPDF
    Download Restriction: Single articles can be downloaded buying download credits, for info: https://www.francoangeli.it/DownloadCredit
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charl de Villiers & Ana Marques, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility, country-level predispositions, and the consequences of choosing a level of disclosure," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 167-195, February.
    2. de Villiers, Charl & Alexander, Deborah, 2014. "The institutionalisation of corporate social responsibility reporting," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 198-212.
    3. Hervé Stolowy & Luc Paugam, 2018. "The expansion of non-financial reporting: an exploratory study," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 525-548, July.
    4. Michael Erkens & Luc Paugam & Hervé Stolowy, 2015. "Non-financial information: State of the art and research perspectives based on a bibliometric study," ACCRA, Association francophone de comptabilité, vol. 21(3), pages 15-92.
    5. Michelon, Giovanna & Pilonato, Silvia & Ricceri, Federica, 2015. "CSR reporting practices and the quality of disclosure: An empirical analysis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 59-78.
    6. Devalle, Alain & Rizzato, Fabio & Busso, Donatella, 2016. "Disclosure indexes and compliance with mandatory disclosure—The case of intangible assets in the Italian market," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 8-25.
    7. Cho, Charles H. & Laine, Matias & Roberts, Robin W. & Rodrigue, Michelle, 2015. "Organized hypocrisy, organizational façades, and sustainability reporting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 78-94.
    8. Qiu, Yan & Shaukat, Amama & Tharyan, Rajesh, 2016. "Environmental and social disclosures: Link with corporate financial performance," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 102-116.
    9. Francesca Manes-Rossi & Adriana Tiron-Tudor & Giuseppe Nicolò & Gianluca Zanellato, 2018. "Ensuring More Sustainable Reporting in Europe Using Non-Financial Disclosure—De Facto and De Jure Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-20, April.
    10. Michael Erkens & Luc Paugam & Hervé Stolowy, 2015. "Non-financial information: State of the art and research perspectives based on a bibliometric study," ACCRA, Association francophone de comptabilité, vol. 21(3), pages 15-92.
    11. Steven F. Cahan & Charl De Villiers & Debra C. Jeter & Vic Naiker & Chris J. Van Staden, 2016. "Are CSR Disclosures Value Relevant? Cross-Country Evidence," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 579-611, September.
    12. Rezaee, Zabihollah & Tuo, Ling, 2017. "Voluntary disclosure of non-financial information and its association with sustainability performance," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 47-59.
    13. Mahoney, Lois S. & Thorne, Linda & Cecil, Lianna & LaGore, William, 2013. "A research note on standalone corporate social responsibility reports: Signaling or greenwashing?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 350-359.
    14. Laura Girella & Mario Abela & Elisa Rita Ferrari, 2018. "Conceptual shifts in accounting: Transplanting the notion of boundary from financial to non-financial reporting," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(1), pages 133-175.
    15. Muttakin, Mohammad Badrul & Khan, Arifur, 2014. "Determinants of corporate social disclosure: Empirical evidence from Bangladesh," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 168-175.
    16. Halkos, George & Skouloudis, Antonis, 2016. "Exploring the current status and key determinants of corporate disclosure on climate change: Evidence from the Greek business sector," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 22-31.
    17. Mohamed Chelli & Sylvain Durocher & Anne Fortin, 2018. "Normativity in Environmental Reporting: A Comparison of Three Regimes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 285-311, May.
    18. Jennifer Martínez‐Ferrero & Isabel M. Garcia‐Sanchez & Beatriz Cuadrado‐Ballesteros, 2015. "Effect of Financial Reporting Quality on Sustainability Information Disclosure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(1), pages 45-64, January.
    19. Stephen Brammer & Stephen Pavelin, 2006. "Voluntary Environmental Disclosures by Large UK Companies," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(7-8), pages 1168-1188.
    20. Kansal, Monika & Joshi, Mahesh & Batra, Gurdip Singh, 2014. "Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosures: Evidence from India," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 217-229.
    21. Stephen Brammer & Stephen Pavelin, 2006. "Voluntary Environmental Disclosures by Large UK Companies," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(7‐8), pages 1168-1188, September.
    22. Pavlopoulos, Athanasios & Magnis, Chris & Iatridis, George Emmanuel, 2017. "Integrated reporting: Is it the last piece of the accounting disclosure puzzle?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 23-46.
    23. Yingjun Lu & Indra Abeysekera, 2017. "What Do Stakeholders Care About? Investigating Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosure in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 169-184, August.
    24. John Dumay & Cristiana Bernardi & James Guthrie & Paola Demartini, 2016. "Integrated reporting: A structured literature review," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 166-185, September.
    25. Hess, David, 2008. "The Three Pillars of Corporate Social Reporting as New Governance Regulation: Disclosure, Dialogue, and Development," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 447-482, October.
    26. Daniel Tschopp & Ronald Huefner, 2015. "Comparing the Evolution of CSR Reporting to that of Financial Reporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 565-577, March.
    27. Guidry, Ronald P. & Patten, Dennis M., 2012. "Voluntary disclosure theory and financial control variables: An assessment of recent environmental disclosure research," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 81-90.
    28. Wendy Stubbs & Colin Higgins, 2018. "Stakeholders’ Perspectives on the Role of Regulatory Reform in Integrated Reporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 489-508, February.
    29. Nielsen, Christian & Madsen, Mona Toft, 2009. "Discourses of transparency in the intellectual capital reporting debate: Moving from generic reporting models to management defined information," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(7), pages 847-854.
    30. Ronald P. Guidry & Dennis M. Patten, 2012. "Voluntary disclosure theory and financial control variables: An assessment of recent environmental disclosure research," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(2), pages 81-90, June.
    31. Luca Fornaciari & Caterina Pesci, 2018. "Global financial crisis and relevance of GRI disclosure in Italy. Insights from the stakeholder theory and the legitimacy theory," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(1), pages 67-102.
    32. Andrea Venturelli & Fabio Caputo & Simona Cosma & Rossella Leopizzi & Simone Pizzi, 2017. "Directive 2014/95/EU: Are Italian Companies Already Compliant?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-19, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Irina Bogataya & Elena Evstafyeva & Denis Lavrov & Ekaterina Korsakova & Natalya Mukhanova & Svetlana Solyannikova, 2022. "Disclosure of Information in Risk Reporting in the Context of the Sustainable Development Concept," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-21, February.
    2. Cristian Carini & Laura Rocca & Monica Veneziani & Claudio Teodori, 2021. "Sustainability regulation and global corporate citizenship: A lesson (already) learned?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 116-126, January.
    3. Sabrina Spallini & Virginia Milone & Antonio Nisio & Patrizia Romanazzi, 2021. "The Dimension of Sustainability: A Comparative Analysis of Broadness of Information in Italian Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-22, January.
    4. Simona Fiandrino & Alberto Tonelli, 2021. "A Text-Mining Analysis on the Review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive: Bringing Value Creation for Stakeholders into Accounting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-18, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ismail N.B. & Sébastien Alcouffe & Galy N & Ceulemans K, 2020. "The impact of international sustainability initiatives on Life Cycle Assessment voluntary disclosures: The case of France’s CAC40 listed companies," Post-Print hal-03082800, HAL.
    2. Manuel De Nicola & Anna Maria Maurizi, 2023. "What do companies report about their digital transformation?," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2023(2), pages 165-185.
    3. Simona Fiandrino & Alberto Tonelli, 2021. "A Text-Mining Analysis on the Review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive: Bringing Value Creation for Stakeholders into Accounting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-18, January.
    4. Patrizia Gazzola & Roberta Pezzetti & Stefano Amelio & Daniele Grechi, 2020. "Non-Financial Information Disclosure in Italian Public Interest Companies: A Sustainability Reporting Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-16, July.
    5. Valentina Beretta & Maria Chiara Demartini & Laura Lico & Sara Trucco, 2021. "A Tone Analysis of the Non-Financial Disclosure in the Automotive Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-16, February.
    6. Giorgio Mion & Cristian R. Loza Adaui, 2019. "Mandatory Nonfinancial Disclosure and Its Consequences on the Sustainability Reporting Quality of Italian and German Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-28, August.
    7. Charles H. Cho & Jonathan Maurice & Emmanuelle Nègre & Marie-Anne Verdier, 2016. "Is environmental disclosure good for the environment? A meta-analysis and research agenda," Post-Print halshs-01369422, HAL.
    8. Karaman, Abdullah S. & Orazalin, Nurlan & Uyar, Ali & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2021. "CSR achievement, reporting, and assurance in the energy sector: Does economic development matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    9. Hammed Afolabi & Ronita Ram & Gunnar Rimmel, 2022. "Harmonization of Sustainability Reporting Regulation: Analysis of a Contested Arena," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-26, May.
    10. Jane Andrew & Max Baker, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting: The Last 40 Years and a Path to Sharing Future Insights," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 56(1), pages 35-65, March.
    11. Selena Aureli & Mara Del Baldo & Rosa Lombardi & Fabio Nappo, 2020. "Nonfinancial reporting regulation and challenges in sustainability disclosure and corporate governance practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2392-2403, September.
    12. Matteo Molinari & Maria Pia Maraghini & Angelo Riccaboni, 2021. "Reporting di Sostenibilit? e Controllo Manageriale: L?esperienza di Edison S.p.A," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2021(2), pages 61-86.
    13. Guo, Jianan & Islam, Muhammad Azizul & Jain, Ameeta & van Staden, Chris J., 2022. "Civil liberties and social and environmental information transparency: A global investigation of financial institutions," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1).
    14. Salvatore Loprevite & Domenico Raucci & Daniela Rupo, 2020. "KPIs Reporting and Financial Performance in the Transition to Mandatory Disclosure: The Case of Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-24, June.
    15. Cornelia Beck & Geoffrey Frost & Stewart Jones, 2018. "CSR disclosure and financial performance revisited: A cross-country analysis," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 43(4), pages 517-537, November.
    16. Frank Sampong & Na Song & Kingsley Osei Boahene & Kwame Ansong Wadie, 2018. "Disclosure of CSR Performance and Firm Value: New Evidence from South Africa on the Basis of the GRI Guidelines for Sustainability Disclosure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-28, November.
    17. Balluchi, Federica & Furlotti, Katia & Torelli, Riccardo, 2020. "Italy Towards Mandatory Sustainability Reporting. Voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure of Italian Companies and Legislative Decree 254/2016 Statements. A Quantitative Analysis of the L," OSF Preprints 9agvf, Center for Open Science.
    18. Amal Aouadi & Sylvain Marsat, 2018. "Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 1027-1047, September.
    19. Mihai Carp & Leontina Păvăloaia & Mihai-Bogdan Afrăsinei & Iuliana Eugenia Georgescu, 2019. "Is Sustainability Reporting a Business Strategy for Firm’s Growth? Empirical Study on the Romanian Capital Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-21, January.
    20. Liu, Chengyun & Su, Kun & Zhang, Miaomiao, 2021. "Water disclosure and financial reporting quality for social changes: Empirical evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fan:frfrfr:v:html10.3280/fr2019-001004. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Stefania Rosato (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/sommario.aspx?IDRivista=163 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.