Companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock
Exchange (JSE) must now produce an integrated report instead of an
annual financial report and separate sustainability report.

The integrated reports provide a complete
overview of a company by including social, environmental and
economic performance along with the company’s financial
performance.

The King Code of Governance (King III)
recommended that organisations produce an integrated report for all
year end reports beginning on or after 1 March 2010.

The requirement for integrated reports became
effective on 1 June 2010.

The absence of a set of standards on
integrated reporting has resulted in various organisations
combining to form the Integrated Reporting Committee (IRC).

Global Reporting Initiative chairman Mervyn
King, a South African national who led the group that drafted King
III, will chair the committee.

The founding organisations for the IRC are the
Association for Savings and Investment SA, Business Unity South
Africa, the Institute of Directors SA, the JSE and the South
African Institute of Chartered Accountants.