Abstract
During the last 20 years, social, political and economic changes have impacted on the accountability concept in the public sector. In this context, public organizations are requested to improve their reporting processes, and disclose more accurate and complete information about their activities and results. In April 2013 the International Integrated Reporting Council issued the Consultation Draft of the International Integrated Reporting Framework, with the aim of contributing—among other things—to the initial integration of information regarding different forms of “capital” involved in the value creation processes of an organization. While primarily designed for private companies, the Consultation Draft can also be extended to the public sector. For this reason, in order to discuss the possibility to improve the level of accountability of public sector, this chapter intends to provide an introductory analysis on the applicability of the International Integrated Reporting Framework to public institutions.
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Notes
- 1.
An overview of the main approaches taken in the public sector and their development is provided by Steccolini (2004, pp. 330–333).
- 2.
As an example, a Directive of the Ministry of Public Administration on social accountability in public administrations was adopted in Italy in 2006.
- 3.
- 4.
A brief analysis of the experiences available in the GRI database confirms that the experiences that define their own reports as “integrated” have been engaged in the adoption of forms of sustainability, environmental and social reporting for some years. In the GRI Sustainability Disclosure Database there are 529 sustainability reports published in 2013 by public institutions 85 out of whom are self-defined as integrated reports.
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Bartocci, L., Picciaia, F. (2013). Towards Integrated Reporting in the Public Sector. In: Busco, C., Frigo, M., Riccaboni, A., Quattrone, P. (eds) Integrated Reporting. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02168-3_12
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