ALTERNATIVE REPORTING AND NON-FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING FORMATS

Alternative and non-financial reporting has gained attention in public sector organizations in the last decades, as a result of the increasing need to provide stakeholders with understandable information on how public resources have been managed and public value has been created for the benefit of the whole community. This need springs not only from accountability duties, but also from the recognized role of citizens as co-producers in designing public services and, more broadly, in engaging in public decision-making. In this chapter, after an introduction on the scope of non-financial disclosure, some of the most widespread formats are discussed, including popular reporting, sustainability reporting, the most recent SDGs reporting and integrated reporting, which are finally compared in a synopsis. Some reflections on possible use of the different non-financial reports and technical reporting issues conclude the chapter.