What do companies report about their digital transformation?

Abstract

Consistently with the rapid and disruptive growth of digital transformation (DT), many studies in the field of accounting have investigated how digital technologies are used to improve reporting quality, effectiveness, timeliness, and other similar attributes. Conversely, there is a research gap concerning the features (and the respective preparers behaviors) of non-financial disclosure about the DT process experienced by the companies. To this end, integrated reports, which contemplate a section dedicated to comment about the business model (BM), might be suitable documents to be investigated. There is still little relevance attributed to the information disclosed to represent the impacts of DT on BM elements and on the relationship with stakeholders. Hence, this study proposes an exploratory approach mapping the DT reporting that a sample of Italian listed companies disclosed by adopting the principles issued by the International Integrated Reporting Council - IIRC (now Value Reporting Foundation). This research shows how BM reporting can help to understand whether and how companies implement a DT strategy. It also demonstrates that the representation of the relationship DT/BM is shallow and incomplete and that it is mainly used with the aim of enhancing legitimacy.