Internal application of IR principles: Generali's Internal Integrated Reporting

This study analyses the case of Generali, an Italian insurance company that implemented Integrated Reporting (IR) principles internally, creating an Internal Integrated Report (IIR). More specifically, it studies whether and how the internal implementation of Integrated Reporting principles can advance management control systems (MCS). By merging management control systems and integrated reporting literature, we identified several mechanisms that could potentially lead to an evolution of management control systems. The case study analysis of the Generali Internal Integrated Reporting allowed us to compare the hypothetical benefits derived from the literature with actual benefits derived from the Generali case. This work contributes to both management control systems and Integrated Reporting literature. We believe that cross-fertilization between different streams of literature has been particularly successful in this case, as Integrated Reporting is not only about external reporting but it is rather about how firm complexity can be managed more generally.