Integrated reporting decision usefulness: Mainstream equity market views

The International Integrated Reporting (< IR >) Framework (2013) identified providers of financial capital as its primary users. This research provides evidence from 22 mainstream equity market actors, employed by global investment houses, regarding the decision usefulness of and resistances to<IR>, as a reporting framework. Despite institutional-level support for<IR>, the interviews reveal that its usefulness to fund managers and equity analysts is low. Concerns are evident over the Framework design and its relevance to more structural issues pertaining to equity market culture. The implication of this is that<IR>may become a reporting fad, not embedded into mainstream investment thinking.