Intellectual capital reporting in the non-profit sector. A case study analysis

Abstract

The article focuses on the analysis of external ICR practices in the non-profit sector, exploring why and how a NPO reports its IC.In detail, the paper focuses on the ICRs of an Italian non-profit organization (NPO), theANPAS Piemonte, a branch of ANPAS (Associazione Nazionale Pubbliche Assistenze), the largest volunteer federation of associations providing public interest services in Italy.In studying ANPAS Piemonte ICR practices, the authors briefly describe the changes which have taken place in the public and NP sector environments, as these provide the macro contextual factors within which ANPAS Piemonte formulates its ICR strategy. The authors selected ANPAS Piemonte as it is, to the best of their knowledge, one of the few NPOs with a longstanding experience in issuing IC reports.The main contribution of the article lies in having examined the ICRs of an NPO over time, adding empirical knowledge to the literature in the third sector so far dominated by how-to-do approaches and normative concepts.