Towards Integrated Reporting – Communicating Value in the 21St
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TOWARDS INTEGRATED REPORTING Communicating Value in the 21st Century ABOUT THIS DISCUSSION PAPER Contents The International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) has About this Discussion Paper 1 brought together world leaders from the corporate, investment, Summary 2 accounting, securities, regulatory, academic, civil society and What is Integrated Reporting? standard-setting sectors to develop a new approach to reporting. Why do We Need Integrated Reporting? An International Framework This approach, Integrated Reporting, will meet the needs of the Future Direction 21st century. It builds on the foundations of financial, management Your Comments Requested commentary, governance and remuneration, and sustainability The World has Changed – Reporting Must Too 4 reporting in a way that reflects their interdependence. Towards Integrated Reporting 6 Integrated Reporting Defined The IIRC aims to forge a global consensus on the direction in which Building on Developments to Date reporting needs to evolve, creating a framework for reporting An International Integrated Reporting Framework 8 How is Integrated Reporting Different? that is better able to accommodate complexity, and, in so doing, Business Model and Value Creation brings together the different strands of reporting into a coherent, The Building Blocks integrated whole. Guiding Principles Content Elements This Discussion Paper considers the rationale behind the move Towards Integrated Reporting – Innovation in Action towards Integrated Reporting, offers initial proposals for the What will Integrated Reporting Mean for Me? 20 development of an International Integrated Reporting Framework Benefits, Challenges and Responses Reporting Organization Perspective and outlines the next steps towards its creation and adoption, Investor Perspective including the publication of an Exposure Draft in 2012. Its Policy-maker, Regulator and Standard-setter Perspective Other Perspectives purpose is to prompt input from all those with a stake in Future Direction 25 improved reporting, including both producers and users of reports. Summary of Consultation Questions 26 Your answers to the Consultation Questions in this Discussion Paper, and any Acknowledgements and Endnotes 28 other comments you would like to make, will be important to us in refining these proposals. They should be submitted to [email protected] or online at www.theiirc.org. Please identify in your response the organization to which you belong and where it is located. All comments received will be considered MANAGEMENT COMMENTARY a matter of public record and will be posted on www.theiirc.org. Comments should be submitted by Wednesday 14th December 2011. GOVERNANCE AND REMUNERATION REPORTING You can register at www.theiirc.org to be notified when additional information is published, when regional roundtables or webinars are held or for information about the IIRC Pilot Programme. www.theiirc.org FINANCIAL STATEMENTS SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING Copyright © September 2011 by the International Integrated Reporting Committee. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to make copies of this work to achieve maximum exposure and feedback provided that each copy bears the following credit line: Copyright © September 2011 by the International Integrated Reporting Committee. All rights reserved. Used with permission of the International Integrated Reporting Committee. Permission is granted to make copies of this work to achieve maximum exposure and feedback. Towards Integrated Reporting 1 SUMMARY The development of Integrated Reporting is designed to enhance and consolidate existing reporting practices...to move towards a reporting framework that provides the information needed to assess organizational value in the 21st century. What is Integrated Reporting? reflecting this growing complexity. Such a framework needs to The initial focus is on reporting by larger companies and on Future Direction bring together the diverse but currently disconnected strands of the needs of their investors. The Framework will help to elicit Integrated Reporting brings together material information The development of Integrated Reporting is designed to enhance reporting into a coherent, integrated whole, and demonstrate consistent reporting by organizations, provide broad parameters about an organization’s strategy, governance, performance and consolidate existing reporting practices and, through an organization’s ability to create value now and in the future. for policy-makers and regulators and provide a focus for and prospects in a way that reflects the commercial, social collaboration, consultation and experimentation, to move harmonizing reporting standards. and environmental context within which it operates. It provides towards a reporting framework that provides the information a clear and concise representation of how an organization International differences in reporting needed to assess organizational value in the 21st century. demonstrates stewardship and how it creates and sustains value. The next steps that the IIRC will take in this direction are Reporting requirements have evolved separately, and differently, The building blocks listed below. An Integrated Report should be an organization’s primary in various jurisdictions. This has significantly increased the Five Guiding Principles underpin the preparation of an reporting vehicle. compliance burden for the growing number of organizations Integrated Report. • Undertake a Pilot Programme to encourage experimentation that report in more than one jurisdiction and makes it difficult to and innovation among companies and investors. • Strategic focus compare the performance of organizations across jurisdictions. • Develop an International Integrated Reporting Framework Why do We Need Integrated Reporting? • Connectivity of information Exposure Draft, reflecting responses received to this Since the current business reporting model was designed, The benefits of Integrated Reporting • Future orientation Discussion Paper and the experience gained from the first there have been major changes in the way business is • Responsiveness and stakeholder inclusiveness year of the Pilot Programme. conducted, how business creates value and the context in Research has shown that reporting influences behaviour. • Conciseness, reliability and materiality which business operates. These changes are interdependent Integrated Reporting results in a broader explanation of • Work with others to support the development of emerging measurement and reporting practices relevant to and reflect trends such as: performance than traditional reporting. It makes visible an These Principles should be applied in determining the content Integrated Reporting. organization’s use of and dependence on different resources of an Integrated Report, based on the key Content Elements • globalization, and relationships or “capitals” (financial, manufactured, human, summarized below. The presentation of the Elements should • Raise awareness among investors and other stakeholders • growing policy activity around the world in response to intellectual, natural and social), and the organization’s access make the interconnections between them apparent. and encourage organizations to adopt and contribute to financial, governance and other crises, to and impact on them. Reporting this information is critical to: the evolution of Integrated Reporting. • Organizational overview and business model • heightened expectations of corporate transparency and • a meaningful assessment of the long-term viability of the • Explore opportunities for harmonizing reporting • Operating context, including risks and opportunities accountability, organization’s business model and strategy; requirements within and across jurisdictions. • Strategic objectives and strategies to achieve those • actual and prospective resource scarcity, • meeting the information needs of investors and other • Develop institutional arrangements for the ongoing objectives • population growth, and stakeholders; and governance of Integrated Reporting. • Governance and remuneration • environmental concerns. • ultimately, the effective allocation of scarce resources. • Performance Your Comments Requested Against this background, the type of information that is needed • Future outlook to assess the past and current performance of organizations An International Framework Please join us in this unique effort to develop an overarching International Integrated Reporting Framework by providing and their future resilience is much wider than is provided for The IIRC is developing an International Integrated Reporting by the existing business reporting model. While there has feedback on this Discussion Paper. Your answers to the Framework that will facilitate the development of reporting Consultation Questions in this Discussion Paper, and any other been an increase in the information provided, key disclosure over the coming decades. The core objective of the Framework gaps remain. comments you would like to make, should be submitted to is to guide organizations on communicating the broad set of Who is the IIRC? [email protected] or online at www.theiirc.org. For the information needed by investors and other stakeholders to Reports are already long and are getting longer. But, because The International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) is purpose of analysis, you are asked to identify the organization assess the organization’s long-term prospects in a clear, concise, reporting has evolved