To finish this short series I was looking for an alternative perspective on IR. I met Stathis Gould in New York at the CR Commit Forum 2011. Stathis works at the International Federation of Accountants on supporting professional accountants working in business, and is passionate about corporate responsibility. He has also been pulling together the IFAC Accountants in Business response to the IIRC discussion paper available here. I enjoyed hearing his views from an managerial accountants’ perspective and we have met since to discuss integrated reporting from our different vantage points. He kindly agreed to contribute his perspective in a blog post.
The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) has established prominence quickly following its formation in 2010, and the issuance of … Read the Full Post
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 to focus the development of the Framework on … 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 was producing multiple sustainability reports to address the different sustainability needs of … 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 audience is multiple … 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
