The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the
Prince of Wales’ Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S) have
formed an International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC)
tasked with developing a globally accepted integrated reporting
framework.

Integrated reporting brings together
financial, environmental, social and governance information – in a
clear, consistent and comparable format.

The main purpose behind the framework is to
improve accounting for sustainability. It is expected to also
benefit investors and stakeholders who prefer a more holistic
snapshot of companies than financial reports provide.

At present, a range of standard-setters and
regulatory bodies are responsible for individual elements of
reporting.

The A4S and GRI said an integrated reporting
framework needed to be developed on an international basis to avoid
the risk of multiple standards emerging.

The IIRC has five key goals:

  • Raise awareness of the need for a global
    framework and develop a consensus among governments, listing
    authorities, business, investors, accounting bodies and standard
    setters for the best way to address it;
  • Develop an overarching integrated reporting
    framework setting out the scope of integrated reporting and its key
    components;
  • Identify priority areas where additional work
    is needed and draft a development plan;
  • Consider whether standards in this area
    should be voluntary or mandatory and facilitate collaboration
    between standard-setters and convergence in the standards needed to
    underpin integrated reporting; and,
  • Promote the adoption of integrated reporting
    by relevant regulators and report preparers.

 

Who’s who in the IIRC

The IIRC is comprised of a 34-member steering
committee and a 20-member working group.

The working group will be responsible for
drafting proposals for the IIRC’s governance arrangements, and the
scope and content of integrated reporting.

It will be co-chaired by A4S chairman Paul
Druckman and International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) chief
executive Ian Ball.

The steering committee will provide guidance
to the working group and consider whether to adopt the working
group’s proposals.

It will be chaired by Michael Peat, the
principal private secretary to the Prince of Wales.

The deputy chair will be Mervyn King, the
chair of South Africa’s King Committee on Corporate Governance and
chair of the GRI.

The remainder of the working group and
steering committee will be comprised of representatives from the
corporate, accounting, securities, regulatory, government,
non-government, academic and standard-setting sectors.

The accounting profession is well represented,
with the steering committee including the global chief executives
of the Big Four, Grant Thornton and BDO, as well as:

  • Association of Chartered
    Certified Accountants chief executive Helen Brand;
  • Institute of Chartered
    Accountants in England and Wales chief executive Michael
    Izza;
  • Chartered Institute of
    Management Accountants chief executive Charles Tilley;
  • IFAC president Robert
    Bunting;
  • International Accounting
    Standards Board chair David Tweedie; and,
  • Financial Accounting
    Standards Board chair Robert Herz.

The working group includes Big Four and
mid-tier partners, as well as representatives from the Japanese and
South African CPA institutes.

 

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