The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) recently released the draft outline of its Integrated Reporting Framework. The draft establishes for the first time the basic structure of the integrated framework under development: a prototype of the framework will be released by the end of 2012, with version 1.0 expected late 2013.
‘The concept of “integration”, embedding value-relevant financial and non-financial information into strategic decision-making and a company’s reporting cycle, is gaining momentum as a vital step in the evolution of corporate reporting globally,’ said Paul Druckman, CEO of the IIRC.
At the Rio+20 Earth Summit earlier this year there were also signs that integrated reporting may have a future. ‘Although we didn’t get the commitment to a more integrated method of reporting, including the mandatory sustainability reporting that many were hoping for, it did remain in the final document when so many areas disappeared,’ said Charles Bowman, an audit partner at PwC.
France and Denmark from within the EU have since partnered with Brazil and South Africa from outside to advocate sustainability reporting by businesses, industry, governments and other relevant stakeholders. In recognition of the retention of sustainability reporting (in paragraph 47 of the Rio+20 document) they have called themselves the ‘Friends of Paragraph 47’.
