The IIRC has published what it says is a landmark Discussion Paper, called Towards Integrated Reporting – Communicating Value in the 21st Century. Integrated Reporting, says its supporters will provide more comprehensive and meaningful information about all aspects of an organization’s performance and in particular it will demonstrate the links between an organisation’s financial performance and the social, environmental and economic context within which it operates.
IIRC says Integrated Reporting will be clear and comprehensible, providing a meaningful assessment of the long term viability of an organization, meeting the information needs of investors and other stakeholders and supporting the effective allocation of financial, manufactured, human, intellectual, natural and social capital.
Sir Michael Peat, Chairman of the IIRC, says, “The range of issues – economic, environmental and social – which determine an organisation's success has never been broader or more pressing. It is for this reason that we need an approach to reporting that is fit-for-purpose in the 21st century. The world has changed – reporting must too.
“All matters which are important in assessing an organisation’s performance and position, past and prospective, need to be reported but not by making annual reports ever longer and more complex – they are too long already. The information needs to be provided clearly and concisely with the connections between financial, environmental and social impacts demonstrated and the clutter removed. This is what Integrated Reporting seeks to achieve.”
The discussion paper Towards Integrated Reporting – Communicating Value in the 21st Century presents the rationale for Integrated Reporting, offering initial proposals for the development of an International Integrated Reporting Framework and outlining the next steps towards its creation and adoption. Its purpose is to prompt input from all those with a stake in better reporting, including producers and users of reports.
Professor Mervyn King, Deputy Chairman of the IIRC, says, “The IIRC's approach is one that will present a globally co-ordinated solution to reporting, avoiding the current problems with reporting requirements in different jurisdictions developing in different directions and at different speeds. Integrated Reporting reduces the compliance burden and enables more effective
