Examining the association between quality of integrated reports and corporate characteristics

This paper examines the quality of integrated reports of listed firms in South Africa and the associated factors. Data were obtained from a sample comprising 100 firm-year observations of 20 companies in Johannesburg Stock Exchange over the period (2013-2017). Analysis of data involves descriptive statistics, spearman rank correlation analysis and Kruskal-Wallis H test. The result shows a significant relationship between the quality and length of integrated reports. Firms vary in the level of quality of their integrated reports on the account of differences in profitability, board size, gender and firm size. No significant relationship was found between quality of integrated reports and leverage. The result of this study indicates that the length of the integrated report signals the level of quality of such report, which may be necessary in disclosing all material matters to satisfy the needs of a wide range of stakeholders.