EGPA Ad Hoc Group 3 on Accountability and Popular/Social Reporting in the Public Sector: A comparative perspective
EGPA Ad Hoc Group 3 on Accountability and Popular/Social
Reporting in the Public Sector: A comparative perspective
Paolo Biancone; University of Turin, Italy;
paolo.biancone@unito.it
Silvana Secinaro; University of Turin, Italy;
silvana.secinaro@unito.it
Valerio Brescia; Università Degli Studi di Milano, Italy;
valerio.brescia@unimi.it
Federico Chmet; University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy;
federico.chmet@uniupo.it
Justyna Fijalkowska; Społeczna Akademia Nauk (SAN University), Poland;
jfijalkowska@san.edu.pl
Dominika Hadro; Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wrocławiu, Poland;
dominika.hadro@ue.wroc.pl
In recent years, public sector accountability has evolved beyond compliance-based and
financially oriented models, incorporating Popular Reporting, Social Reporting, and
Sustainability Reporting to enhance transparency, accessibility, and democratic
legitimacy (Bovens, 2007; Yusuf et al., 2013); Biancone et al., 2025). There is currently
a gap in the comparison of models and approaches adopted.
Popular Financial Reporting (PFR) or Bilancio POP is a simplified, citizen-oriented
reporting tool designed to communicate consolidated financial and non-financial
information in a clear and accessible format (Biancone et al., 2025a; Grossi et al., 2021).
It emphasizes comprehensibility, inclusion, integrated vision, and the use of emerging
technologies to identify citizens’ informational needs integrated by focus on long-term
public value created (Biancone et al., 2024). By contrast, Social Reporting focuses on
social impact, mission achievement, and stakeholder engagement (Dumay, Guthrie &
Farneti, 2010), while Sustainability Reporting adopts an integrated perspective, often
structured around the Six Capitals framework, to capture long-term public value creation
(Cheng et al., 2014; Secinaro et al., 2022).
Furthermore, these models support participatory budgeting and participatory reporting in
the planning, programming and control process. E-participation tools are recognized as
mechanisms supporting democratic decision-making and representative democracy based
on last evidence of social reporting. Citizen participation is a core element of modern
public accountability (Bovens, 2007) and digital platforms can enhance transparency and
engagement, although their effectiveness depends on socio-demographic factors and
accessible financial and non-financial information (Macintosh, 2004; Meijer & Bolívar,
2016).
Adopting a comparative European perspective and models (Italy, Spain, Poland,
Switzerland), the panel contributes to debates on: - - - - -
Citizen-centred accountability and public value communication;
The role of accounting in strengthening trust and legitimacy;
Stakeholder engagement and participatory governance;
Tensions between standardisation and local adaptation;
Institutional and regulatory drivers of reporting innovation.
In this respect, the panel also contributes to building continuity towards the EAA Annual
Congress 2027, hosted by the University of Torino, fostering long-term academic
collaboration across governance and accounting studies, and EAA Annual Congress
2028, hosted by University of Krakow, Poland, May 2028.
By systematically comparing countries with different governance traditions, the panel
seeks to advance theory, inform practice and outline a shared European research agenda
on accountability and popular/social reporting in the public sector.
Papers accepted for presentation in the panel will be eligible for a fast-track review
process in:
European Journal of Social Impact and Circular Economy
European journal of volunteering and community-based projects
Authors will be invited to submit extended versions of their contributions, which—after
further development and in line with each journal’s editorial standards—will undergo an
expedited review procedure.
References
Biancone, P. et al. (2025), “Linee guida per la realizzazione del Bilancio POP”, Collane@unito.it, ISBN:
9788875903619, https://www.collane.unito.it/oa/items/show/232.
Biancone, P., Brescia, V., Chmet, F., & Lanzalonga, F. (2025). The evolution of integrated popular financial
reporting: toward a digital-driven collaborative approach using sentiment analysis tool. EuroMed
Journal of Business, 20(5), 75-97.
Biancone, P. P., Secinaro, S., Brescia, V., & Calandra, D. (2024). Which direction for stakeholder
capitalism? Approaches and reporting towards POP accounting. Sustainable Development, 32(6),
6579-6594.
Bovens, M. (2007). New forms of accountability and EU-governance. Comparative European Politics, 5(1),
104-120.
Cheng, M., Green, W., Conradie, P., Konishi, N., & Romi, A. (2014). The international integrated reporting
framework: key issues and future research opportunities. Journal of International Financial
Management & Accounting, 25(1), 90-119.
Dumay, J., Guthrie, J., & Farneti, F. (2010). GRI sustainability reporting guidelines for public and third
sector organizations: A critical review. Public Management Review, 12(4), 531-548.
Grossi, G., Biancone, P. P., Secinaro, S., & Brescia, V. (2021). Dialogic accounting through popular
reporting and digital platforms. Meditari Accountancy Research, 29(7), 75-93.
Yusuf, J. E., Jordan, M. M., Neill, K. A., & Hackbart, M. (2013). For the people: Popular financial reporting
practices of local governments. Public Budgeting & Finance, 33(1), 95-113.
Macintosh, A. (2004, January). Characterizing e-participation in policy-making. In 37th Annual Hawaii
International Conference on System Sciences, 2004. Proceedings of the (pp. 10-pp). IEEE.
Meijer, A., & Bolívar, M. P. R. (2016). Governing the smart city: a review of the literature on smart urban
governance. International review of administrative sciences, 82(2), 392-408.
Secinaro, S., Brescia, V., Iannaci, D., & Jonathan, G. M. (2022). Does citizen involvement feed on digital
platforms?. International Journal of Public Administration, 45(9), 708-725.
Submission on: iias | EGPA 2026 Conference
