Integrated reporting in Australia : a study of key interests and effects

In spite of an army of passionate believers, increasing corroborating scientific evidence on climate change and a permissive political outlook, reporting on sustainability impacts has endured a troubled passage to gain acceptance and inclusion as part of mainstream financial reporting. The question "why has sustainability reporting not achieved success in mainstream accounting" (Mathews, 1997) remains unanswered in spite of calls by Gray (2010), Hopwood (2009) and others to explore the relationship between accounting and the environmental agenda. This thesis traces the emergence of integrated reporting as a new reporting technology and the key consequences of this phenomenon in Australia. Integrated reporting has recently materialised partly as a response to criticisms levelled at traditional financial and voluntary sustainability reporting practices. The study adopts a historical genealogy approach blended with an actor network theory (ANT) lens to map actors and interests (Foucault, 1979; Latour, 2005). Interests are theorised using the orders of worth analytical tool to examine the disputes and issues inhibiting a resolution being reached (Boltanski & Thevenot, 1999; 2006). The thesis gathers data from face-to-face sources at events and through semi-structured interviews. It also uses a netnographical approach using online network sources utilising computer-mediated-communication (CMC) tools (Kozinets, 2010). The data is analysed using Nvivo software to identify research themes and actors’ interests. The study reveals that existing sustainability technologies are characterised by various forms of weakness and limited diffusion in Australia and abroad. In this thesis, a weak technology is defined in terms of (i) the inability to hold together interests and/or (ii) the absence of a credible authority to force adoption. The study highlights that recent attempts to develop a globally accepted technology have been thwarted by incommensurable interests manifesting in unresolved disputes. Ultimately this study concludes the technology cannot hold incommensurable interests and, in the absence of a credible authority to intervene to force adoption, may continue to fail to gain traction. In a sense, this challenges the recent government-to-governance argument which argues that the role of state agencies has been diminished in contemporary regulatory regimes. It suggests that mainstream adoption of integrated reporting requires the intervention of the state, although to date the Australian state has demonstrated no conviction to intervene in this manner