Since 2016, Benefit Corporations (BCs) have appeared in Italy, created with the purpose of pursuing, in addition to economic activities, goals of common benefit (social and environmental), operating responsibly, sustainably and transparently. These corporations are required to include in their statutes their set common benefit goals, to measure their impacts annually, and to report on their efforts through the drafting of an impact report. This study investigates what features present corporations with this legal status and how they are fulfilling the reporting requirements of Italian law. The research analyzed the geographical, sectoral, and dimensional spread, as well as some aspects of governance and their published impact reports. The data show how BCs are predominantly small, newly established companies that mainly engage in the service sector. It also emerges how many Italian companies, especially medium- to large-sized ones, have been implementing CSR practices for years, but very few formalize their commitment to being BCs through statutory amendment.A mismatch between SB status and obtaining certification is also noted in that only a few of the BCs are already certified, while most only adopt legal status. Analysis on impact reports shows that there are still many companies that do not comply with regulatory reporting and impact assessment requirements. Published reports rarely contain monitoring KPIs, often do not provide the possibility of comparing data for several years and contain mostly generic objectives from which explicit action plans do not emerge. Stimuli for prospective research are proposed.
