Charl De Villiers

• Professor at University of Auckland

Purpose - Despite broadening acceptance in society of the need to prioritise social and environmental sustainability, individuals and groups who dispute its relevance represent a grand challenge. Universities are uniquely placed to institutionalise the idea that pursuing sustainability is the ‘right thing to do’. As universities that prioritise sus...

Vice‐chancellors' salaries have been criticised in the media and examined by scholars. Therefore, we examine whether vice‐chancellors' compensation can be explained by performance, job size/complexity, and/or the incumbent's characteristics/abilities. Our sample consists of all New Zealand universities' vice‐chancellors' pay from 2010 to 2023. We f...

This paper presents a structured and systematic literature review (SLR) and critique of the literature on the opportunities and challenges of accounting, auditing, and renewable energy sources to identify trends and research streams and construct an agenda for future research. We collected a corpus of 229 academic articles searching in the 89 Chart...

Purpose: Integrated Reporting (IR) provides a joint overview of an organisation's financial and sustainability performance and strategies. While the prior literature often critiques IR’s potential to entrench injustice, a systematic approach has not been followed. Therefore, this paper provides a systematic literature review, uncovering IR injustic...

Given that the aim of corporate social and environmental disclosure mandates is to improve corporate social and environmental performance, this study investigates the impact of such mandates on performance. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, we examine trends in corporate social and environmental performance before and after the introducti...

Purpose This paper aims to critically reflect on the formation of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), its current agenda and likely future direction. The authors consider the relationships between the ISSB and other standard setters, regulators, practitioners and stakeholders, and develop a comprehensive research agenda. Desig...

We examine the relations between corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures, dividend payments, and firm value. We use an international sample and measure CSR disclosures based on Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) disclosure levels, which we divide into two parts (unexpected and expected disclosures). We find three main results. First, firms...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework that explores the determinants, mechanisms and consequences of reporting on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) by universities. The framework considers the relationship between reporting on the SDGs and the three main activities of universities: research,...

Integrated Thinking, the management approach associated with Integrated Reporting, has been hailed as a way of improving organisational decision-making and internal communication, leading to sustainable value creation. Yet Integrated Thinking remains poorly defined and understood. By analysing and synthesising the findings from an emerging body of...

Purpose: The ability of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT to produce convincing, human-like text has major implications for the future of corporate reporting, including sustainability reporting. As the importance of sustainability reporting continues to grow, we critically analyse the benefits and pitfalls of automated text generation and process...

Given that the aim of corporate social and environmental disclosure mandates is to improve corporate social and environmental performance, this study investigates the impact of such mandates on performance. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, we examine trends in corporate social and environmental performance before and after the introducti...

Integrated Thinking has been promoted as a way of revolutionizing decision-making to create sustainable value. Our study shows how disclosures made by managers in annual reports can reveal aspects of Integrated Thinking within organizations. We develop a new dictionary-based measure of Integrated Thinking and apply our measure to two samples: 685 r...

This study examines how MCSs may enable, constrain and embed the integrated reporting process within organisations. We analyse in-depth, semi-structured interview evidence using Tessier and Otley's MCS framework and institutional work. We find that organisational culture, clear responsibilities and ongoing stakeholder dialogue support the developme...

Purpose This paper critically analyses the future of Integrated Reporting (IR) given recent and likely future developments in corporate reporting and sustainability disclosure standard setting. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses Alvesson and Deetz’s (2000) critical framework to consider the research question through insight (a review of t...

Purpose – The paper examines disputed interpretations of ‘key meanings’ between the audit regulator and Big 4 firms during a highly contentious regulatory debate, showcasing their use of ‘strategies of resistance’ to achieve their intended outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative analysis is performed of the discourse in a South Afric...

This study investigates whether shareholders are willing to pay for higher levels of corporate financial, social, and environmental disclosure. We conduct a choice-based conjoint experiment wherein 65 shareholders are asked to make 12 choices, choosing each time between two predetermined randomized combinations of different levels of investment ret...

This chapter sheds light on the integrated reporting (IR) adoption decision by Sri Lankan Public Listed Companies (PLCs) from an institutional theoretical (IT) perspective, with special reference to institutional isomorphism and institutional entrepreneurship to describe and analyse how external and internal pressures drive PLCs towards IR adoption...

We examine the relationship between board of director committees tasked with risk management and environmental performance, based on a sample of 1,466 firm-year observations from 2007 to 2015. We find that the presence of board committees dedicated only to risk management is associated with better environmental performance. The human capital of ris...

Thomson Reuters Asset4 (Asset4) is a leading corporate social responsibility (CSR) database often used by practitioners and researchers. This review offers a precise understanding of prior studies using Asset4 and their justification for selecting Asset4, and identifies research opportunities. We review 285 studies using Asset4 data published in qu...

Purpose: This study examines the methodological and method related challenges and opportunities arising from the use of video interviews in qualitative accounting research, focused on collecting contextual data and visual cues, enriching communication quality, and building and maintaining rapport with interviewees. Design/methodology/approach: Pri...

Integrated Reporting (IR) aims to be a concise communication of an organisation's value creation story. IR's promoters see it as a force for financial stability and sustainable development, yet there are mixed opinions and research evidence on IR's real contribution to the broader sustainability agenda. There are many positive examples of companies...

Purpose – The paper reflects on the future of sustainability reporting standards by examining the current practical initiatives and the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) position in the arena of non-financial and sustainability reporting, and identifies avenues for future research. Design/methodology/approach – A critical reflection and analysis...

Purpose – This paper develops a conceptual framework for extended external reporting (EER) influences (EERI), including Sustainability, Non-Financial, Integrated, and Value Reporting. Using the Environmental Legitimacy, Accountability, and Proactivity (ELAP) framework as the base, we modify its proposed concepts and linkages using relevant conceptu...

Purpose - This paper presents a systematic literature review, including content and bibliometric analyses, of the impact of blockchain technology (BT) in auditing, to identify trends, research areas, and construct an agenda for future research. Design/methodology/approach – We include studies from 2010 to 2020 in our Structured Literature Review (...

We explore how the concept of social capital is used and theorised in accounting research by performing a structured literature review, and a critical analysis, of articles published in leading accounting journals. We identify two research paths, namely 1) how social capital influences accounting, and 2) how accounting influences social capital for...

The study provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary sustainability accounting research, comprising 1,283 academic articles published in 54 journals (2014-2020). Sustainability disclosure is the most frequently researched topic and a substantial proportion of publications analyse a national setting, examine a European context, investigate li...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how blockchain and triple-entry accounting technologies may improve non-governmental organisation (NGO) accountability by amplifying the social and economic outcomes of aid. It also provides a critique of these technologies from an accountability perspective. Design/methodology/approach An in-depth c...

We examine whether female board representation moderates the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance on firm value. Using a two-stage dynamic panel generalized method of moments (GMM) method, we find that the effect of CSR strengths (CSR concerns) on the market assessed firm value, measured by Tobin's Q and annual stock return,...

Boards of directors affect corporate strategy and decision-making through monitoring of management and resource provision. Recently, an increasing number of studies have examined the relationships between board characteristics and corporate social responsibility (CSR). These studies have yielded inconsistent findings. This article therefore reports...

Accounting technologies can be used to help stimulus packages achieve the twin goals of economic stimulus and climate mitigation. Utilizing an institutional logic perspective, we show that despite the massive financial consequences of climate change, the current climate response is dominated by the economising logic that justifies limited action. F...

Purpose – The International Integrated Reporting Framework (IIRF) encourages organisations to disclose material information that affects their ability to create value. This paper investigates the challenges and techniques preparers of integrated reports employ to determine the materiality of non-financial information. Design/methodology/Approach –...

Purpose COVID-19 restrictions have severely impacted access to the traditional data and data sources used by qualitative researchers. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the corresponding challenges and opportunities of conducting qualitative research in accounting. Design/methodology/approa...

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to understand how communication strategies and the use of numbers can ensure the buy-in and cooperation of stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach - Drawing on legitimacy theory, this study analysis documents regarding the communication strategies of New Zealand's Prime Minster, Jacinda Ardern, during the Cov...

Corporate governance disclosures form a key part of a company’s non-financial reporting. Several studies consider the determinants of corporate governance reporting, including external factors such as country-specific legislation and scandals, and internal factors such as financial performance, size and culture. Others consider the consequences of...

Purpose – To examine the type of firms that voluntarily adopt the International Integrated Reporting Framework (IIRF) and how markets respond to voluntary IIRF adherence. Design/methodology/approach – Analysis of a matched global sample of listed firms that voluntarily adopt the IIRF (IIRF firms) and those that do not (non-IIRF firms). The samples...

This study investigates the corporate governance determinants of environmental investment in European firms. Using a sample of firms listed on the Bloomberg European Index 500 from 2001 to 2015, this study finds that firms with more independent directors, and female directors, are likely to invest more in the environment. It also finds that environ...

Purpose – Covid-19 restrictions have severely impacted access to the traditional data and data sources used by qualitative researchers. This paper discusses the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the corresponding challenges and opportunities of conducting qualitative research in accounting. Design/methodology/approach – This study h...

We outline the business opportunity for the provision of measurement technology, linked to the internet, i.e. the internet-of-things (IoT), which feeds information into blockchains, providing reliable and trusted data and an incentive for others to contribute towards progress on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Both existin...

Purpose - Integrated Reporting (IR) promotes the disclosure of future-oriented information to enable financial stakeholders to make better-informed decisions. However, the downside to this type of disclosure is the risk to management of disclosing such future-oriented information. This paper explores how IR preparers manage the risk of disclosing f...

Purpose: This study aims to provide insights into the poorly understood concept of Integrated Thinking by comparing and contrasting disclosures related to Integrated Thinking provided in Integrated Reports in two different institutional settings. Design/method: The study uses content analysis of the narrative sections of Integrated Reports to expl...

This study examines whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance impacts financial audit fees of US listed firms from 2000 to 2016. We use the CSR performance ratings from the KLD database to measure firms’ CSR performance. Using the sum of a firm’s CSR strengths and concerns as a measure of a firm’s overall involvement in CSR related...

Purpose This paper provides a critical analysis of the South African government's response to the COVID-19 crisis and its effect on state finances and budgets. Design/methodology/approach The paper critically analyses publicly available data. Findings The South African government's initial health response was praised by the international communit...

Corporate governance disclosures form a key part of a company’s non-financial reporting. Several studies consider the determinants of corporate governance reporting, including external factors such as country-specific legislation and scandals, and internal factors such as financial performance, size and culture. Others consider the consequences of...

Purpose: This paper provides a critical analysis of the South African government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis and its effect on state finances and budgets. Design/methodology/approach: The paper critically analyses publicly available data. Findings: The South African government’s initial health response was praised by the international communi...

Purpose: This paper examines how Management Control Systems (MCS) can enable and constrain the successful adoption of Integrated Thinking in an organisation. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a case study approach, involving in-depth interviews and documentary evidence. Findings: The case study organisation perceived trust to be critica...

This timely handbook provides a current and comprehensive examination of integrated reporting, both practical and research-based. It offers insights and different perspectives from more than 60 authors, including representatives of the International Integrated Reporting Council, Integrated Reporting Committee of South Africa, professional bodies an...

This chapter provides a brief overview of integrated reporting (IR). An integrated report should be a concise account of an organization’s future value creation story, including information on financial and non-financial capitals, and referencing the organization’s strategy and business model. IR started in practice and was later formalized, first...

Boards of directors affect corporate strategy and decision-making through monitoring of management and resource provision. Recently, an increasing number of studies have examined the relationships between board characteristics and corporate social responsibility (CSR). These studies have yielded inconsistent findings. This article therefore reports...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how sustainability assurance providers’ (SAPs) promotion of sustainability assurance influences the scope of engagements, its implications for professional and managerial capture and the ability of sustainability assurance to promote credible reporting. Design/methodology/approach The authors conduct...

Business model (BM) and strategy disclosures could provide investors with relevant information. This study offers a platform for future research on BM and strategy disclosure and is the first to analyse the change in BM and strategy disclosures after the introduction of an integrated reporting (IR) requirement, to propose a framework for disclosure...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how social disclosures are influenced by the adoption of integrated reporting (IR), focusing on the three social capitals in the international IR framework, namely, intellectual, human and social and relationship capital. Design/methodology/approach This study takes the form of a single case study in...

Business model and strategy disclosures could provide investors with relevant information. This study provides a platform for future research on business models and strategy disclosure and is the first to analyse the change in business model and strategy disclosures after the introduction of an integrated reporting requirement, to propose a framewo...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how sustainability reporting managers (SRMs) institutionalise sustainability reporting within organisations. Design/methodology/approach In total, 35 semi-structured interviews with SRMs in Australia and New Zealand were analysed using an institutional work perspective. Findings SRMs’ institution...

This special issue dedicated to qualitative accounting research shows the commitment of Accounting & Finance to support and publish qualitative research. This introductory piece explains the rationale behind this commitment and recounts the process followed with this special issue, before introducing the papers published in it. The first paper in t...

This article deals with some common misconceptions about qualitative research. Qualitative studies are well suited to studying complex interconnections and relationships without reducing the complexity to simple numbers or variables. Rather than excluding outliers from a dataset, qualitative researchers are interested in these exceptions and often...

Purpose: The study explores how sustainability reporting managers (SRMs) institutionalise sustainability reporting within organisations. Design/Methodology: 35 semi-structured interviews with SRMs in Australia and New Zealand were analysed using an institutional work perspective. Findings: SRMs’ institutional work can be categorised into four phas...

intellectual, human, and social and relationship capital. Design/methodology/approach: This study takes the form of a single case study involving content analyses of annual reports and integrated reports from 2009 to 2017 (i.e. before and after IR adoption in 2013), as well as in-depth, semi-structured interviews with key preparers of the integrate...

Desi Adhariani, Charl de Villiers, (2019) "Integrated reporting: perspectives of corporate report preparers and other stakeholders", Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Vol. 10 Issue: 1, pp.126-156, https://doi.org/10.1108/SAMPJ-02-2018-0043 Purpose – This paper aims to explore the perspectives of corporate report preparers a...

Purpose: To explore the perspectives of corporate report preparers and other stakeholders on integrated reporting (IR) in a major Southeast Asian economy. Design/methodology/approach: A survey is used to explore perspectives on IR. Findings: There is a limited level of knowledge regarding integrated reporting, but a high level of interest. Corporat...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the competition between accounting sustainability assurance providers (ASAPs) and non-accounting sustainability assurance providers (NASAPs), and how this competition influences the institutionalization of the evolving field of sustainability assurance. Design/methodology/approach An interpretivist r...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether preparing an integrated report and/or whether cross-listing is associated with more IC disclosure. Design/methodology/approach: The paper compares the content of IC disclosures of matched samples of companies. Findings: The findings show that companies preparing an integrated report disclose...

Purpose: The competition between accounting (ASAPs) and non-accounting sustainability assurance providers (NASAPs) is examined along with the way this competition influences the institutionalisation of the evolving field of sustainability assurance. Design/methodology: An interpretivist research methodology, guided by an institutional work perspec...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether preparing an integrated report and/or whether cross-listing is associated with more intellectual capital (IC) disclosure. Design/methodology/approach The paper compares the content of IC disclosures of matched samples of companies. Findings The findings show that companies preparing an integ...

Sustainability assurance is a voluntary undertaking in most countries. As a result, there is no restriction on who can provide sustainability assurance services or the approach to assurance. This chapter explores the different types of sustainability assurance providers operating in the market. These assurance providers can be segregated into two b...

This study examines recent accounting research published in 10 journals led by New Zealand and Australia based editors, namely: Abacus; Accounting and Finance; Accounting Forum; Accounting History; Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal; Australian Accounting Review; International Journal of Auditing; Meditari Accountancy Research; Pacific...

This study examines recent accounting research published in 10 journals led by New Zealand and Australia based editors, namely: Abacus; Accounting and Finance; Accounting Forum; Accounting History; Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal; Australian Accounting Review; International Journal of Auditing; Meditari Accountancy Research; Pacific...

Background: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure is widespread among the largest companies in South Africa due to the listing requirements of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). These companies have also increasingly pursued external assurance of their CSR disclosures in recent years. The increased regulation of CSR disclosure and th...

This paper examines the influence of integrated reporting (IR) on the sustainability reporting practices of a state-owned enterprise through a content analysis of their reports and interviews with report preparers. The findings show a steady increase in the quantity and quality of sustainability disclosures. In 2012, the organization chose to adopt...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the highly cited articles published in Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal ( AAAJ ), since its inception, to answer three research questions: first, how have scholarly articles published in AAAJ developed? second, what are the focus areas and characteristics of articles in AAAJ , and who a...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify key challenges, opportunities, strengths and weaknesses experienced by the integrated reporting (IR) idea since the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC)’s Discussion Paper was published in late 2011. It provides insights into the phases of the IR journey as investigated by accounting re...

Background: Enron was considered a strong corporate social performer when their infamous accounting scandal emerged in 2000. Literature suggests that companies use corporate social responsibility (CSR) to disguise corporate misconduct. Aim and Setting: This study examines one type of corporate misconduct, namely, earnings management (EM). Prior st...

Sustainability reporting aims to communicate an organization’s sustainability performance to stakeholders. Integrated reporting is designed to provide information on how well the organization has managed its financial and non-financial capital to the providers of that capital. However, the credibility of these documents is often questioned by stake...

This paper responds to a specific gap identified in the prior literature by examining whether dividend paying status and dividend size are associated with accruals quality, using three accruals-based earnings quality proxies on a large sample of 2387 firm-year observations over 17 years in a developing economy, South Africa. Univariate tests are al...

We discuss the background to integrated reporting, a new reporting framework focused on firms’ future value creation narrative. We consider why integrated reporting is an area of interest for the accounting profession, accountants, investors, regulators, and managers. We provide an overview of the integrated reporting literature, discuss measuremen...

Background: This study analyses the accounting research articles published by South African journals. Aim and setting: A review of accounting research in internationalising journals in the South African region that publish accounting research. Methods: The characteristics of accounting articles were analysed. Five journals were analysed, includin...

We examine the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and dividend pay-outs for US firms. In theory, high dividend pay-outs could limit managers’ ability to invest in CSR. Managers’ decision to invest in CSR could be driven by a desire to attain a competitive advantage for the firm or by a desire for personal kudos. If an investm...

This chapter provides a brief overview of the book and discusses the likely future of the practice of and research on sustainability accounting and integrated reporting. Sustainability accounting includes reporting, the management control systems to support reporting, and the assurance of external reporting. The rapid mainstreaming of sustainabilit...

The paper examines the types and role of carbon management control systems by analysing in-depth interviews undertaken with 38 individuals from 30 organizations that use carbon management control systems. The paper identifies the different types of carbon controls, and the internal and external uses and objectives of controls. Carbon controls can b...

Purpose: This article develops a conceptual model for examining the development of integrated reporting, relates the articles in this Meditari Accountancy Research special issue on integrated reporting to the model, and identifies areas for future research. Design/methodology/approach: The article uses a narrative/discursive style to summarise ke...

Purpose The aims of this study are to review the literature examining the arguments for and against the telephonic qualitative research interviews, to develop criteria for assessing when the use of the telephone is suitable in qualitative research and if suitable to offer detailed strategies for the effective use of this data collection instrument....

This paper examines the future of IC reporting by offering critical reflection on different forms of reporting, with a particular focus on Integrated Reporting ( ). While, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework for corporate social responsibility disclosures, the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), and the various financial...

Purpose This paper focuses on the market for sustainability assurance (SA) services. The aims of this paper are to review academic efforts in the field, highlighting ground covered, provide a comprehensive understanding of the market for this new form of assurance and identify potential avenues for future research. Design/methodology/approach Th...

Published in: British Accounting Review (2017) 49(1), 4-24. This study aims to theorise and foster a better understanding of the strategies organisations adopt to respond to the risks and opportunities emerging from changing government climate change policies and the supporting management accounting adopted. Data include interviews and archival doc...

This study aims to theorise and foster a better understanding of the strategies organisations adopt to respond to the risks and opportunities emerging from changing government climate change policies and the supporting management accounting adopted. Data include interviews and archival documents from five New Zealand electricity generators. We cons...