This is the second post in series on integrated reporting
The recent discussion paper from the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) for which comments were due on December 14th 2011 worries me. It starts with some statements with which I wholeheartedly agree…
“Integrated Reporting brings together material information about an organization’s strategy, governance, performance and prospects in a way that reflects the commercial, social and environmental context within which it operates. It provides a clear and concise representation of how an organization demonstrates stewardship and how it creates and sustains value.”
“Integrated Reports will meet the needs of a broad range of stakeholders.”
However this is immediately followed by this statement
“Initially, however, the IIRC intends… Read the Full Post
This is the third post in a series on integrated reporting.
Does integrated reporting means a single report, or does it mean multiple reports ?
At BT, our annual sustainability report consists of a comprehensive online report of hundreds of pages of text and data supplemented by a summary PDF of about 20 pages. Our Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) is an interactive PDF of text and data of about 180 pages. Both our reports are externally audited.
Does integration mean combining all this into one report, or does it mean creating an integration between the content in each.
Interestingly, during the sustainability report planning process last year, one of the options considered… Read the Full Post
I am interested in the concept of integrated reporting and am often asked about it at during the Q&A at conferences. I hear many different perspectives of what exactly it is.
I think that by far the biggest challenge is going to be reconciling the approach of the financial reporting community with the approach of the CSR/sustainability community.
The financial reporting community produces highly compliance-based reports. Compliance which in my view incentivizes a low risk, play it safe, measurement oriented, audit heavy approach. The material is laser focused on the shareholder audience interested primarily in near term measurable share value and returns.
The CSR/sustainability emphasis in contrast is on the long term, effecting change, on holistic impact (sometimes not as measurable). The… Read the Full Post
The Loyal Opposition
I wrote an article for this month’s CR magazine on the trend I am seeing amongst CR practitioners to validate all sustainability programs within the framework of the CFO’s view of the world. And that worries me. The article, which came out online yesterday explores why I think this is a troubling trend.
Business looks to us to set the CR agenda. And we need to talk the language of business. But, far from falling into line with offering a single perspective, no matter how important it might be to operate using business tools and terms, CR and sustainability professionals should be there to provide alternative perspective. In other words, we should be there to be a balancing force, not a subservient… Read the Full Post
A couple of articles caught my attention last week. This blog post by Marc Gunther about the pros and cons of reusable shopping bags and this one in the Washington Post about the implications of the success of the Fair Trade movement.
In different ways, both indicate the need for an increasing maturity in our approach to corporate responsibility and sustainability as our programs take root and grow. Initiatives that appear to be the right thing to do at a small scale, need to be revisited as they scale and the full implications become evident.
Marc identifies inaccuracies in the truisms that are bandied around about plastic bags (the 1 mile island of trash in the Pacific) , but… Read the Full Post
