CMA Conference ‘Integrated Reporting – Future of Corporate Reporting’ a must for corporate leaders

CMA Global Management Accounting Conference on the theme ‘Integrated Reporting – Future of Corporate Reporting’ is a must for corporate leaders including chairmen, directors, CEOs, CFOs and those engaged in the preparation of Integrated Reporting. 

The session on Implementing Integrated Reporting will have experts from South Africa, India, Sri Lanka and Australia speaking on the important aspects of Integrated Reporting and Implementation In companies and the successes achieved. The conference will be held on 5 July at Cinnamon Lakeside where the keynote address will be delivered by International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) President Rachel Grimes.  

Integrated Reporting in South Africa will be delivered by Graham Terry Consultant – Strategy and Integrated Thinking – South Africa. He is also an ambassador to IIRC promoting integrated reporting and was project leader of the publication “Integrated Thinking” published by SAICA and has been involved with CMA from the commencement of the CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards and have provided valuable technical assistance to our evaluators. 

South Africa are one of the main countries that adopted Integrated Reporting which is now mandatory for all companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. 

South-African big companies publish great Sustainability reports, they also appear to be the world leaders when it comes to Integrated Reporting.

The main reason, as you may have guessed, is regulations. As Paul Druckman, Former CEO of the IIRC, mentioned in his Reflections on Integrated Reporting in South Africa: “Striking the balance between regulation and market-led integrated reporting is something that I believe has supported South Africa’s uptake of integrated reporting. In South Africa listed companies are required to submit an integrated report on a comply or explain basis.”

The King Code of Governance Principles for South Africa 2009 (King III) states that “current incremental changes towards sustainability are not sufficient – we need a fundamental shift in the way companies and directors act and organise themselves”. King III’s recommendation that organisations adopt integrated reporting represents an important element of this ‘fundamental shift’ and a significant and timely evolution in corporate reporting practice.

Furthermore, compliance to King III is now mandatory to all companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), which greatly increased the number of integrated reports published in South Africa, to more than 400.

Indian perspective on <IR> will be delivered by Vrushali Gaud India Advisor – International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and was nominated by IIRC as their nominee for the Global Management Accounting Conference on “Integrated Reporting – The Future Corporate Reporting”. Last year we had the CEO of IIRC as the key Note Speaker at the <IR> Awards and to distribute the awards. 

Integrated Reporting <IR>, is a market- led response to the need for evolution in corporate reporting at the heart of which is creating value through a six capital approach. It aims to improve the quality of information available to providers of financial capital by communicating a broader range of relevant information that can help investors to understand the company and its prospects better. Globally more than 1,500 companies have adopted the <IR> principles to embed multi-capitalism in their internal thinking and external reporting. 

In India regulators have pioneered changes through the Companies Act, Corporate Social Responsibility mandate, Business Responsibility Reporting and similar. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued a circular in February 2017 recommending Top 500 companies to adopt the <IR> framework for reporting. Top tier companies such as Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Mahindra Group, Wipro and others have adopted the <IR> framework. In 2018 it is expected that many premier Indian companies will embrace the concept of six capitals striving to give parity to all of the resources the company uses and affects. The IIRC acknowledges the support and effort of all its institutional and corporate partners in India and the SE Asia region who continue to encourage and support adoption of <IR>.

The Quality of Integrated Reporting: An Empirical Investigation will be delivered by Prof. Samanthi Senaratne Professor. Dept. of Accounting – University of Sri Jayewardenepura who has been engaged in Research activities on integrated reporting of companies.

The concept of integrated reporting (IR) has brought a paradigm shift to corporate reporting landscape by acting as a management and communication tool for understanding and measuring how organisations create value now and in the future. With IR gaining a momentum globally, the number of companies developing integrated reports has also increased. However, the goal of IR is not to provide more information but better information for stakeholders of an organisation. Hence, what is meant by quality of IR and how it is being assessed have become pertinent questions to address. Since IR is a novel concept, the number of studies conducted on IR is still embryonic and among the few studies conducted too, there is dearth of research as to quality of IR. In this context, this paper explores the concept of IR quality and how it is measured and assessed.

Making Capitals Relevant to the Business will be delivered by Dr. Luckmika Perera, Director – Professional Programs and Partnerships, Faculty of Business and Law – Deakin University, Australia on an invitation extended by CMA to link up with foreign universities to exchange best practices in the implementation of integrated reporting in quoted companies, private companies, SME sector and public sector organisations especially in the Value Creation process and the benefits given to stakeholders and society.  

The integrated reporting <IR> Framework defines capitals broadly as “the stock of value that are increased, decreased or transformed through activities and outputs of an organisation” (<IR> Framework, s2.11). While the framework suggests six capitals, the way each business would relate to these capitals would differ significantly. <IR> is about the story of a business, namely a unique story. Therefore, should the capitals also be “generic” or can the capitals be considered as “unique” to individual businesses – which in turn makes it relevant? 

The process of Integrated Thinking, Integrated Reporting and the Integrated Report is about telling the corporate big picture story and the capitals are as unique to each business as the story itself. This presentation will cover with existing examples, the different aspects of interpreting and, even re-framing the capitals within the <IR> Framework in making it relevant to individual businesses in telling their unique story. 

Those interested to register for the Global Management Accounting Conference please contact Shanthi on 071 4705536 or email: [email protected].