Trends in Integrated Reporting by JSE-Listed Companies: An Analysis of Corporate Governance Disclosures Concerning King IV

As regulations in the corporate world continue to evolve, companies must stay updated with these changes. One such change includes compliance with the King Report on Corporate Governance (King IV) which is a mandatory requirement for Johannesburg Securities exchange (JSE) listed companies. The purpose of this study is to analyse corporate governance disclosures in the integrated reports of the top 100 JSE-listed companies to determine how companies initially adopted King IV in terms of disclosures and whether there has been an improvement in compliance with King from the year 2016 to 2017 and from 2017 to 2018. The year 2016 was used as a base year for the study as it was the last year before King IV became mandatory. A descriptive research methodology was used in which integrated reports of the sampled JSE-listed companies were examined and analysed to determine the level of King IV disclosure in each year and to evaluate whether there had been significant changes in specific disclosures provided by these companies. A rating scale was used along with a checklist of indicators to measure compliance with King IV. The key findings indicate that overall, the level of disclosures improved over the three-year period. The main recommendation to preparers of integrated reports is to ensure that all duties and responsibilities carried out by the board of directors are clearly articulated in the reports. The study aims to contribute to the scarce literature on King IV disclosures in integrated reports.