Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to debate the future form of reporting in the public sector by
examining alternative forms of reporting, and more specifically the frameworks of integrated reporting
and popular reporting. Moreover, the paper explores whether and how these reports could be related to
each other in order for the needs of a pillar user group, that of the citizens, to be addressed.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors analyze the frameworks of integrated reporting and
popular reporting, and by combining their characteristics the authors propose a creative synthesis
suitable for the public sector.
Findings – The analysis leads to the conclusion that governmental entities need to take the next step
on reporting in two parallel levels: the first would require the publication of information encountered in
integrated reports containing various information elements that are not confronted to the traditional
financial ones. The second would result in the provision of this information in a concise and easily
comprehensive way. The merger of these two streams will give rise to the publication of “Integrated
Popular Reports – IPR.”
Originality/value – This move would result to useful and meaningful reporting with potential
strategic advantages. The integrated reporting dimension of the reports combined to the popular
reporting dimension would provide an adequate information matrix for citizens and other user groups
(e.g. politicians, public executives), that are interested to understand the “whole picture” of public
sector entities but at the same time they neither possess advanced accounting knowledge nor they are
familiar with technical terminology.