Integrated Reporting and Heteroglossia: A Comparative Historical Case Study from the Lake Superior Copper Industry

ABSTRACT

The integrated reporting (IR) framework (International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) 2013), with its emphasis on value creation, has been described as part of a “re-imagined capitalism” (Eccles and Spiesshofer 2015). Yet, calls to integrate managerial and operational information into corporate reporting long predate IR. Related accounting literature has explored broader forms of disclosure through concepts such as heteroglossia (Macintosh and Baker 2002), pluralism (Dillard and Roslender 2011), situating (Bayou, Reinstein, and William 2011), and triangulation (Hutchinson and Amador 2024). This study examines reporting practices at the Quincy Mining Company and Calumet & Hecla Mining Company, two major Lake Superior copper producers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tracing the integration, removal, and re-emergence of operational information in corporate reports, the paper demonstrates that many contemporary IR debates reflect longstanding tensions within accounting history rather than entirely new reporting innovations.