Guest editorial: Exploring corporate disclosure and reporting of intellectual capital (IC): emerging innovations

The objective of this special issue is to explore corporate disclosure of intellectual capital (IC) in light of emerging changes in technology and communication. Arguably, the annual report has long outlived itself as the best source of corporate disclosure because it contains backwards looking information and is only a one-way means of presenting information rather than engaging with information users. Similarly, the stand-alone IC report is now rarely used to disclose IC information. In fact the words “reporting” and “disclosure” are often used synonymously, when they have different meanings. Disclosure is: “the revelation of information that was previously secret or unknown”, while reporting is a “detailed periodic account of a company's activities, financial condition, and prospects that is made available to shareholders and investors” . Thus, investors and stakeholders value IC disclosures, not reports. Therefore, emerging innovations in voluntary IC disclosure, opens up new possibilities for presenting previously secret or unknown IC information about today’s dynamic and intangible based organisations. This special issue explores innovations in IC disclosure and reporting forms and channels, such as press releases, websites, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+>. We encourage exploring any other communication technologies and processes that can open up a two-way discourse between the organisation and its stakeholders. Similarly, new forms of reporting such as Integrated Reporting, which include IC and other capitals is sparking a resurging interest in IC. Therefore, IC and other capitals are firmly back on the corporate disclosure and reporting agendas.