Reporting of Intellectual Capital: evidence from the Italian Banking Sector

The transition from an economy based on production towards a knowledge-based economy has highlighted the crucial role of Intellectual Capital (IC) in the firm’s financial performance. Intellectual Capital is a business resource that includes know-how, patents, internal and external relationships. IC is widely acknowledged as one of the most critical resources which organizations rely on to improve their efficacy and efficiency, and hence help to improve the value creation and competitive advantage (de Pablos, 2003). There are several empirical studies that examined the quantity and the nature of IC information disclosure in annual reports in different industries and countries (Guthrie and P…