South African expert to keynote at CMA Conference technical session on Integrated Reporting – Practi

CMA National Management Accounting Conference 2016 will highlight the importance of Total Cost Management to improve the competitiveness, efficiency and effectiveness and reduce wastage of organisations especially in the manufacturing sector, government and state owned institutions, public debt management and to create an awareness of the importance of TCM as a key enabler in economic development.

Connected with the theme the technical sessions will highlight the modern aspects of reporting in companies where a keynote address on ‘Integrated Reporting – Practical Aspects’ will be delivered with a panel discussion with industry experts.    

The keynote speaker Prof. Mark Graham Professor in Accounting from the University of Capetown South Africa who has wide experience in Integrated Reporting and does the evaluation of Integrated Reports for Ernst n Young ‘Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards’ will cover the experiences of all listed South African companies where it is mandatory to comply with Integrated Reporting and answer some of the questions applicable to companies, investors and stakeholders as given below. 

•  Direct it at the audience for the integrated report. The providers of financial capital and other stakeholders?
•     Are companies deriving benefits from integrated reporting or is the integrated report adding another requirement for companies to comply with?
•     One of the key users should be the investment analyst. Are they finding value in integrated reports?
•     Are companies adopting the concept of the six capitals or is financial reporting still the main measure by which investors and others measure the viability of a business?
•     Does integrated reporting require companies to disclose information that should be kept confidential?
•     Integrated reporting makes a lot of sense, but does it really present stakeholders with key information or are companies still hiding inconvenient information?
•     Are companies really taking the capitals seriously and managing them in such a way that they are enhancing value creation?
•     Capital markets have been dominated by short term decision-making over many decades. Integrated reporting in many ways conflicts with this view. How can these views be reconciled?
•     It has been said that the benefits of integrated thinking and reporting will only be realised when the reward system for CEOs and others are linked to long term value creation. Is this happening in practice?

Prof. Mark Graham will speak on the implementation of Integrated Reporting in South Africa and the benefits to the corporate sector, regulators and other stakeholders.  

After five years in South Africa Approximately 50 of Top 100 companies have an integrated report that focuses on strategy and value creation, improved layout and structure and created many benefits to companies, investors and other stake holders. 

Some of the weaknesses in integrated reports include:

•     Little evidence of integrated thinking
•     Financial statements, sustainability information and management commentary bolted together
•     Too much ‘compliance’ information

l E.g. financial statements, governance, remuneration, etc.

l    Emphasis on past performance

l    Not enough on strategy and value creation

n    No explanation of trade-offs between capitals

n    Lack of connectivity

E.g. stakeholders and material issues, strategy and risk, strategy and KPI’s, etc.

l    Lack of meaningful KPIs

l    How does the environment affect the organisation?

The inauguration of the CMA National management Accounting Conference will be on 11 July at Cinnamon Lakeside and the ‘CMA Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards 2016’ will also take place at this ceremony. The evaluation of the applicants will be done by an evaluation panel and then the final judging will be carried out by an eminent panel of judges both local and foreign. The 10 Excellent Integrated Reports will receive awards and also the overall winner, 1st runner up and 2nd runner up. A special award will be given to the Most Concise Integrated Report. Also certificates of compliance will be awarded to those who have complied with the standards of Integrated Reporting. 

The technical session on ‘Integrated Reporting Practical Aspects’ will be held on Wednesday 13 July and will be chaired and moderated by Asite Talwatte Former Senior Partner of Ernst & Young and will include DIMO CFO Suresh Guneratne, University of Sri Jayawardenapura Professor Department of Accounting Prof. Samanthi Senaratne, University of Sri Jayawardenapura Lecturer Nuwan Guneratne, SheConsults Ltd. Director Aruni Rajakariar and International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) Regional Lead India Devesh Rapartiwar.

Those interested to register for the conference can contact Shanthi on 071-4705536 or email: [email protected].