ABSTRACT

Although non-financial reporting (NFR) has been extensively explored in the accounting literature, most previous studies have focused on relevant issues in contexts where firms report their impact on society and the natural environment voluntarily. Despite the important role previous studies on voluntary NFR play in our understanding over of its role, processes and consequences, extant literature has provided limited evidence on (i) how NFR regulation affects (if at all) corporate reporting, (ii) whether such regulated reporting affects the users of corporate reports and, (iii) whether mandatory NFR has any “real effects” on how firms affect society and natural environment. This special issue attempts to enrich our understanding of the impact of NFR regulation with reference to the studies accepted for the special issue. In addition, this paper discusses key aspects of NFR regulation, provides an overview of the papers included in the special issue and proposes further axes of research in light of the continuing reforms in the NFR regulatory space; which we foresee to lead to a “multiverse” of NFR regulatory models and approaches.

摘要

尽管非财务报告（NFR）在会计文献中得到了广泛的探讨，但之前的大多数研究都集中在企业自愿报告其对社会和自然环境影响的背景下的相关问题。尽管之前关于自愿 NFR 的研究在我们理解其作用、过程和后果方面发挥了重要作用，但现有文献在以下方面提供的证据有限：(i) NFR 监管如何影响（如果有的话）公司报告，(ii) 此类监管是否受到监管报告会影响公司报告的用户，以及 (iii) 强制性 NFR 是否对公司如何影响社会和自然环境产生任何“实际影响”。本期特刊试图参考本期特刊接受的研究，丰富我们对 NFR 监管影响的理解。此外，本文讨论了 NFR 监管的关键方面，概述了特刊中包含的论文，并根据 NFR 监管领域的持续改革提出了进一步的研究方向；我们预计这将导致 NFR 监管模式和方法的“多元化”。