The Management Process Underpinning the Non-financial Reporting: A Case Study of a Listed Italian Company

Abstract

In today’s economy, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues have become strategic issues to address. A much broader and more interconnected disclosure of information based on integrated thinking is requested. Despite the growing interest in non-financial information, studies, examining the process steps undertaken to develop the non-financial disclosure (NFD), are still lacking. Therefore, this study aims to provide a more in-depth understanding of the firm’s processes underpinning the development of the NFD, following the introduction of regulatory standard n. 254/2016, adopted by the Italian Parliament. This research is based on a qualitative case study focusing on a listed Italian company operating in the manufacturing sector. The analysis is primarily based on semi-structured interviews with the employees in charging of producing the non-financial reporting. This paper is one of the first studies to investigate the activities and the decision-making processes that guide the non-financial information disclosure of firms that approach to this communication, following the introduction of the regulation.