This thesis investigates the factors that affect the take-up of statutory digital reporting of statutory accounts and returns to the tax authority (HM Revenue and Customs) and voluntary digital reporting to the company registry (Companies House) by small private companies in the UK. In doing so, it identifies the costs and benefits of this innovation from the perspectives of the filers and those using the digital information. The first stage of the study comprised 16 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders: HMRC, Companies House, the external iXBRL consultant at HMRC, filing software suppliers, and accountants in business and practice. The interview data was analysed thematically, aided by NVivo. The second stage involved an online survey of 343 ACCA members working in small companies or in practices with small company clients. The survey data were analysed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method. As hypothesised, the results show a significant positive association between digital reporting and the company having the technological competence and between digital reporting and support for this from top management. As predicted, there is evidence of a significant negative association between digital reporting and the complexity of the process, and between digital reporting and the cost of technology. However, the study finds no evidence of a significant association between digital reporting and compatibility of digital reporting with the company’s accounting system, statutory requirements with government, or network effects. The results provide evidence of a significant positive association between digital reporting and benefits to filers, and between digital reporting and benefits to those using the digital corporate data. The latter association is mediated by the digital search and data services provided by Companies House. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to investigate digital reporting to HMRC after it became mandatory for small companies in the UK. The study contributes to the emerging literature by extending our knowledge of the costs and benefits of digital reporting by small companies. It contributes to theory by developing and validating a theoretical model of the factors affecting the take-up of digital reporting and by extending the model to provide further understanding of this technology. The results should be of interest to the directors of small companies and their accountants. They will also be of interest to policy makers seeking to reduce the administrative burdens on smaller entities in the UK and to regulators in other jurisdictions planning for digital reporting initiatives.

Information visualization (InfoViz) is an essential component of decision support systems (DSS). Sparklines is a visualization tool. This study examines if Sparklines in digital financial reports aids novice investors and if so under what circumstances? Does it enhances decision-making performance and facilitates effective decision-making experience? Additionally, does it lowers decision making effort; reduces dilution effect from non-relevant data in financial reports and mitigates recency bias in using digital financial reports? The hypothesis is guided by the theory of Proximity Compatibility Principle and the Theory of Cognitive Fit. The research methodology for this study is a repeated measure, controlled laboratory based experiment. A pilot test was conducted in with a sample of forty undergraduate students from Gatton College of Business and Economics. The sample size for this study was 275 subjects. The result revealed that there was significant effect of sparklines on decision making performance and it provides an incremental value over a tabular format. Sparklines makes an important contribution towards mitigating recency bias. The results also suggested that the irrelevant information cue in the shareholder’s report were not able to weaken the impact of relevant information in the audited financial data reported using sparklines. Sparklines increased the attention of the readers to the tables. Subjects performed the integrative tasks and spatial better when using Sparklines. For tasks such as symbolic tasks, Sparkline does not necessarily improve decision performance. It was also found out that decision makers experience greater satisfaction when using sparklines. The overall cognitive load experienced by subjects was lower using sparklines when task demands are high (such as in a bankruptcy prediction task). Interestingly, the results indicate that there is no significant effect of sparkline on decision confidence and time. In conclusion, recall of facts and pattern among subjects was found superior with use of sparkline. This study provides an empirical and justifiable basis for policy makers to make explicit recommendations about use of novel graphics such as sparkline in digital financial reports. Limitations of this study are noted.

The digitization’s advancement has been noticed by most people not least through applications"apps" which are often referred to as a more effective way of accessing information or makingpayments with. The method of presenting financial reports has also changed during the progressof digitization. From scanned paper copies to an increasingly more digital format throughongoing globalization. This year, the Swedish Companies Agency called Bolagsverket, withmore players, has opened up the possibility for companies to submit their annual report digitallyin Sweden. This possibility concerns the smaller companies that apply the K2 regulations. Theformat is determined to be a variant of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)and will increase the comparability of the reports.This study investigates the motive in terms of motivational forces that are behind the choice tosubmit digitally. The study is based on hypotheses that were built using previous research inthe subject and positive accounting theory and the theory of innovation dissemination. Thestudy examines 31 companies through a survey conducted through both mail and telephoneinterviews. Complementary information has also been obtained from their annual reports tocomplete the study's purpose of describing and explaining the motives for the choice to submitdigitally.What has been found is that the surveyed companies' accounting consultants were largelybehind the choice to submit digitally. Furthermore, the study showed that companies that choseto submit digitally have similar incentives, as previous studies have shown. There appeared tobe connection between submitting digitally and wanting to signal a corporate image as a pioneerin new technology. There was also a correlation between sending digital and size of thecompany, the bigger the company, the greater the chance that they also report digitally. Thethird reason turned out that non-high tech companies are more likely to report digitally.The motives have been identified for a significance level around 10 %. Despite statisticalsupport and precious studies showing similar results, further research should be done on a largersample. Further research should also be done with the perspective for which motives that arebehind the choice to submit digitally for the audit companies, since they have been largelybehind the companies’ choice to report digitally or not.The motives and motivational forces have been identified for a significance level around 10%.Despite statistical support and previous studies showing similar results, further research shouldbe done on a larger sample. Further studies should also be made on the basis of which motivesthat are behind the choice for the audit companies to submit digitally, as they have largelydetermined whether the companies have reported digitally or not.In practice, these identified motivational forces can be used as identifiers for target groups whomay assume new phenomena even in future projects and new technical phenomena in theprogress of digitization - for this trip in an increasingly digitized world is hardly over. / Digitaliseringens framfart har de flesta människor lagt märkte till inte minst genomapplikationer ”appar” som ofta omnämns som ett mer effektivt sätt att komma åt informationeller utföra betalningar med. Sättet att presentera finansiella rapporter har också förändratsunder digitaliseringens framfart. Från inskannade papperskopior till ett allt mer digitalt formatgenom den pågående globaliseringen. I år har bolagsverket med fler aktörer öppnat uppmöjligheten för företag att skicka in sin årsredovisning digitalt i Sverige. Denna möjlighet berörde mindre aktiebolagen som tillämpar K2-regelverket. Formatet är bestämt till en variant aveXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) och ska öka jämförbarheten mellanrapporterna.I denna studie undersöks vilka motiv i form av drivkrafter som föreligger valet att skicka indigitalt. Studien bygger på hypoteser som byggts upp med hjälp av tidigare forskning inomämnet och positiv redovisningsteori samt innovationsspridningsteorin. I studien undersöks 31företag genom en enkätundersökning som skett både genom mail och telefonintervjuer.Kompletterande har även information hämtats från deras årsredovisningar för att fylla studienssyfte att beskriva och förklara motiven för valet att skicka in digitalt.Det som har framkommit är att de undersökta företagens redovisningskonsult i hög grad stodbakom valet att skicka in digitalt. Vidare framgick det av studien att företag som valt att skickain digitalt har liknande incitament med företag som undersökts i tidigare studier. Det visade sigfinnas samband mellan att skicka in digitalt och att vilja signalera en företagsbild som pionjärinom ny teknik. Det visade sig även finnas samband mellan att skicka in digitalt och storlekenpå företagen, ju större företag desto större chans är det att de också skickat in digitalt. Den tredjeorsaken visade sig vara att icke-högteknologiska företag är mer benägna att rapportera indigitalt.Motiven och drivkrafterna har identifierats för en signifikansnivå kring 10 %. Trots statistisktstöd och att tidigare studier påvisat liknande resultat bör vidare forskning göras med ett störreunderlag. Vidare studier bör även göras med utgångspunkten för vilka drivkrafter somföreligger revisionsbolagens val att skicka in digitalt, då dessa i hög grad har fått avgöra omföretagen rapporterat in digitalt eller inte.Rent praktiskt kan dessa identifierade drivkrafter nyttjas som kännetecken för målgrupper somkan tänkas anta nya företeelser även vid framtida projekt och nya tekniska fenomen idigitaliseringens framfart – för denna resa i en allt mer digitaliserad värld är knappast slut.

This paper-based dissertation comprises five essays dealing with corporate sustainability and digital reporting and is structured in six chapters. The first chapter is the introduction and provides an overview of the structure and aims of the dissertation, lays out the contribution of the work, and introduces the five manuscripts. The second chapter, respectively the first manuscript, deals with the consequences of mandatory sustainability reporting in Europe. Specifically, the study deals with the question whether Directive 2014/95/EU has achieved its objectives of increasing reporting quantity and quality. In the third chapter, the sustainability reports of the largest European firms are analyzed using computer-aided text analysis. This study investigates whether and how external assurance of sustainability reports is beneficial from the viewpoint of report transparency, which is proxied by reporting scope, optimism, and readability. In the fourth chapter, the role of corporate sustainability in the context of M&A transactions is examined, precisely whether sustainability influences the premia paid in M&A transactions. The fifth and the sixth chapters center around the voluntary usage of online financial reporting (OFR) in Europe. While the fifth chapter is concerned with the usage and empirical determinants of OFR, the analysis in the sixth chapter examines the impact of OFR on the financial market, specifically on analyst following and stock liquidity.