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Technological developments such as blockchain seem to be the next step in a digital era and might reshape the way we do business. They are expected to have an impact on both business and society in the next few decades. This paper aims to provide general insights into blockchain technology and the extent to which it might transform the accounting system.

Analysing the previous literature, the paper provides a general overview of this phenomenon, identifying pending technical as well as non-technical issues that will have to be addressed for the full potential of blockchain technology to be embraced. The paper also proposes ways in which the information quality dimension might be improved.

The paper identifies the pending challenges for blockchain, such as scalability, flexibility, a suitable architecture and cybersecurity. Additionally, to integrate blockchain technology fully into a real accounting ecosystem, a consensus between regulators, auditors and other parties is needed.

A general overview of this new phenomenon, as well as a summary of how the quality of accounting information might be improved, is provided. Given that it features elements such as decentralization and transparency, blockchain certainly has the potential to improve information and accounting quality.

The objective of this study is to measure the navigation quality of the corporate webpages of the principal European financial entities, given the vital importance of the accessibility of online content for the successful execution of their operational activities.

The web quality model proposes a structure that allows the quality of corporate webpages to be analysed according to the three main quality criteria of content, presentation and ease of navigation (navigability). Bonsón et al. take this theoretical framework as their point of departure for analysing the webpages of the principal European financial entities, and they measure the quality of their content in the context of the extra significance these webpages will acquire when the new Basel II international regulations enter into force in the imminent future. In this study, a joint analysis is made of the results of both studies in order to classify European financial entities according to the strategy adopted for their web sites.

The size of the entity behind the corporate webpage is revealed as the key variable that explains better navigability. There is also a positive relationship between the navigability and the content presented, which shows that companies' strategies for improving the quality of their web site tend to be harmonised in respect of these two criteria.

The approach of most of the entities to their web presence can be characterised as informational in the sense that they are making substantial efforts to improve the content, driven by impending new regulation. However, they are still not utilising various devices available to make their web sites easier to navigate. Better navigability would improve user access to the enhanced information provided.

The resources have been determined that are needed to improve navigability so that these entities can advance their web site strategies and provide a harmonious combination of adequate content and fast, easy access to that content.

This study aims to propose a set of metrics in order to assess reactivity, dialogic communication and stakeholder engagement (popularity, commitment and virality): stakeholders' mood and social legitimacy on corporate Facebook pages. These metrics can offer a better understanding and measurability of this social media/social network/online communication management tool.

Three theories (dialogic, stakeholders and legitimacy) were considered in the development of these metrics. Empirical evidence was collected from a sample of 314 European companies. Then ten active companies were used to validate the proposed metrics on Facebook.

The constructed set of metrics was found to be valid and efficiently usable according to the principles of the applied theories. Moreover all the proposed metrics could be adapted for such sites as Google+.

Limitations can only be identified within the validation process as the metrics were only applied to ten representative companies from the Eurozone.

The proposed metrics will help users, marketing/PR/communication professionals and company managers to measure their and their competitors' popularity, commitment, virality (metrics which reflect stakeholder engagement), and the mood of stakeholders, and use content analysis in order to measure social legitimacy via CSR information disclosure on Facebook. Thus the online reputation of a company can be practically measured.

This paper is the first proposing metrics to assess stakeholder engagement and social legitimacy on a corporate Facebook page that can be used in both academic and professional circles to a gain a better understanding of corporate online communication via Facebook.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an initial assessment of corporate Facebook use by Spanish hotel chains. Two aspects are considered: communication activity and stakeholder engagement through this social media platform.

Based on a content analysis, data on 109 Spanish hotel chains are collected to describe current practices and identify significant relationships among different variables.

The main findings include that their Facebook presence, audiences and levels of activity are positively related to hotel size, while stakeholder engagement is higher in small hotel chains and seems to be influenced by content and media types.

This research contributes to previous research by providing an assessment of corporate Facebook in the hospitality industry (Spanish hotel chains). The paper considers two aspects: communication activity and stakeholder engagement through this social media platform.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the extent to which global financial institutions are using Web 2.0 technologies and social media initiatives to transform the way in which they perform their corporate disclosure, that is, if these entities are opening a real corporate dialogue.

The web sites of 132 major global financial entities – in Europe (54 entities), the Asia‐Pacific region (55) and the Americas (23) – have been scored according to a Sophistication Index, considering various relevant Web 2.0 technologies and social media implementations. The analysis, by means of least squares and logistic regression models, is consistent across both techniques.

Web 2.0 technologies and social media are not fully available in the corporate reporting arena. Nonetheless, a significant influence is detected. The size of each entity and the region in which it operates influence the scored utilisation of Web 2.0 and social media initiatives.

Web 2.0 tools and social media initiatives have been researched via corporate web sites. Corporate visibility in the major social networks, and also the use of advanced web metrics, will remain topics for further research.

A lack of strategy for implementing an effective corporate dialogue is clearly observed. Based on these findings the banking industry and the supervisory authorities, which are under special scrutiny due to the recent global crisis, can take much greater advantage of the potential of social media to open a real corporate dialogue, increasing the level of transparency.

As social media are becoming more useful and ubiquitous, both academics and practitioners need some initial and reliable background data on this preliminary situation. The extraordinary role of protagonist that the banking industry has played in the recent economic upheavals justify its selection as a first sample for this exploratory study.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of an information submission model based on OWL (Web Ontology Language) that permits the subsequent implementation of knowledge‐sharing systems, such as the Set of Experience Knowledge Structure, among the various EU banking supervisors.

Recent theoretical advances in the use of semantic web languages are introduced and put theoretically into force in the context. Additionally, a first‐hand questionnaire is directed to the supervisors, measuring the value compatibility of the semantic technology with the needs of the existing European banking environment.

The results illustrate that there exists a good level of value compatibility between the normative challenge and the new technology. Although there are some differences, these would perhaps not make the implementation of this technological framework particularly difficult, in that they focus on the same points that the regulators must consider to achieve success in the new European environment, for example, the balance between normative and practical approaches.

This is the fist time that an ontology‐based system has been proposed for banking supervision in Europe.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the way in which the insurance industry is facing the renewal of its regulatory framework with respect to the levels of solvency that insurance entities should maintain. This paper also addresses how technological initiatives in general, and the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), in particular, are making a key contribution to the process of adaptation to the new regulation.

The paper analyses the particular advantages that the application of the XBRL standard can offer in this process, and highlight new lines for further research.

After analysing the current situation of the insurance industry, the paper concludes that technological systems, such as XBRL, are necessary to support the consolidation of financial information, and to ensure the digital transparency of the insurer organisations that are engaged in this new regulatory challenge.

XBRL is a key resource in the European Common Reporting Project whose objective is the implementation of Basel II in the European Union. The implementation of Solvency II can benefit from this previous experience. Therefore, it suggest a proposal for action.

The affiliation of the authors to the insurance sector, the academia and the XBRL community contributes to create a complete view of the possibilities of this breaking project.

The aim of this study is to analyse the extent to which Eurozone companies use the social network LinkedIn, how they manage their online practices, what is their typical audience, and which are the potential factors influencing both extent and audience.

To examine how stakeholder engagement is managed by using LinkedIn, a sample of 306 companies listed in the STOXX Europe 600 index, including 19 subsectors and 12 countries, is analysed. To measure the extent of LinkedIn usage, an index was defined and calculated on a scale from 0 to 5.

Although the majority of the companies (79 per cent) do use LinkedIn, they mainly focus on a particular group of stakeholders: current and potential employees. Their focus is thus mostly related to professional purposes such as providing information about employees and career opportunities. Just a few of them engage in blogging or updating statuses. Only a very small number of companies are using this platform for marketing or other purposes. The findings also show that the audience of a corporate LinkedIn channel is influenced by the extent of usage of that channel as well as by the size of the company.

This study is the first one providing an overview of Eurozone companies' practices on LinkedIn. Hence both academics and professionals can benefit from this research.

The purpose of this paper is to present a formalisation of the “online transparency” concept in particular firms’ disclosures, employing basic microeconomics. Relevant literature from the accounting, economics and finance fields, along with specific documents regarding micro-simulation as a technique to capture diversity in data sets, is surveyed.

A class of Stone-Geary utility functions is proposed as an analytical tool. A first simulation of public policies is introduced, exploring its impact on corporate firms and their preferences for online disclosure, specifically in Europe. Moreover, the author study corporate firm digital disclosure and compulsory disclosure policy specifically in Europe, exploring whether the size of the firm, country and sector of operation are relevant to explaining the differences in firms’ behaviour and whether these explanatory factors remain after the application of several types of policies.

Quantitative policies, using this denomination to refer to those that directly affect the amounts of money dedicated to online disclosure, or its unitary costs, seem to have a less substantial effect than those that the author could call qualitative policies (stating minimum requirements for all companies or promoting broader scrutiny by means of internationalisation).

These last policies could also be less expensive for public agencies, as the quantitative ones should be supported by some kind of subsidy or tax benefit system. The paper contains certain mathematical assumptions that will need to be relaxed in further works.

Finally, a full research agenda arises from this first attempt, from which both conceptual and methodological lessons can be learned.

The current study extends the investigation into online relationship building by examining how Eurozone companies belonging to the EURO STOXX 600 index use the popular video platform YouTube to facilitate dialogic communication with their stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the extent and main purposes of the channel's usage, the companies’ activities and online practices, as well as the factors on this platform influencing the channel's activity, the audience, and the stakeholders’ engagement.

To achieve this goal a sample of 306 Eurozone companies listed in the STOXX Europe 600 index, including 19 subsectors and 12 countries, have been analysed. Stakeholder and dialogic theory were applied as a theoretical background for this study.

The results indicated that 44 per cent of companies studied have an official YouTube channel, which is mostly used for promotional purposes. It was found that the size of the company, the sector, and its country of origin determine YouTube channel activity, and that higher activity leads to a higher number of subscribers, thus fostering an initial step to better stakeholder engagement.

Given that this is the first study of its kind to provide this type of analysis, the resulting unique contributions may provide value to the information systems field and also contribute to the advancement of information systems research.