Current reporting and relationship with integrated reporting for listed companies in Kenya : disclosure levels and company factors

Abstract

This study draws on agency, stakeholder and legitimacy theories, to analyze the extent to which ‘integrated reporting’ information is currently being disclosed by Kenyan listed companies and to investigate the firm-level factors associated with the disclosures relying on content analysis procedures to assess the level of disclosure of integrated reporting information in the annual reports (2010-2016) of 50 companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) as well as unbalanced panel data econometric models to establish the association between the integrated reporting disclosures and firm-level factors (including corporate governance and sustainability reporting). The study finds that as of 2016, the formal adoption of integrated reporting was very low at the rate of only 14% (i.e., 7 out of the 50 companies). Nonetheless, disclosure levels for information required as per the integrated reporting framework have increased from 59% in 2010 to 72% in 2016. Disclosures are mainly for organizational overview, strategies, governance, risk and performance. Stakeholder engagement, business model, future challenges and outlook are the notable areas of non-compliance. Findings also show that large companies are likely to adopt integrated reporting due to their high levels of disclosures, while the nature of sectors, like banks, is also likely to influence the adoption of integrated reporting. Although integrated reporting is positively correlated to both financial and non-financial information (with high significance for both sustainability reporting and corporate governance reporting), sustainability reporting is still a challenge for companies. Given the dearth of contemporary evidence establishing if/how companies in emerging markets are adopting the integrated reporting framework, the paper's findings are important for regulators and policymakers to establish the challenges of providing additional information in such contexts, e.g., sustainability reports.