Providing clarity across frameworks and standards

Eight of the world’s most prominent organisations in corporate reporting are today publishing a landscape map that provides a snapshot of a comparison of their frameworks, standards and related requirements through the lens of Integrated Reporting.

These eight organisations strengthened their cooperation in 2014 through the Corporate Reporting Dialogue, an initiative designed to respond to market calls for greater coherence, consistency and comparability between frameworks, standards and related requirements.

Confusion has led to market participants struggling to understand how these frameworks, standards and related requirements could be used together to enhance corporate reporting. As an initial unified response, the Dialogue has developed an online map to show how the eight frameworks, standards and related requirement are seen through the lens of Integrated Reporting.

Paul Druckman, CEO, International Integrated Reporting Council said, “This map will help clarify Integrated Reporting in the context of broader reporting requirements, and also prove a powerful first step towards better dialogue between the most prominent organisations in the corporate reporting field. The market is evidently, and quite rightly, confused with the alphabet soup of the reporting landscape. I am committed to help resolve this, with the map being a first step.”

As a user of these different frameworks, standards and related requirements, commenting on the release of the map, Janet Voûte, Vice President, Global Head of Public Affairs, Nestlé, said, “The dialogue on corporate reporting is an important one. Corporations today are confronted by an ever increasing number of reporting requirements. Insight as to how these frameworks align will help any business that is committed to corporate reporting as a tool for transparent communication.”

Bloomberg has also voiced its support for the Dialogue via a statement from Curtis Ravenel, Global Head, Sustainable Business & Finance, Bloomberg, “The growth of corporate reporting has brought greater visibility into corporate performance, but also a challenge in sorting through the variety of reporting approaches available today. We welcome this landscape map as a tool that promotes greater alignment between corporate reporting frameworks and standards.”  Bloomberg distributes the information provided to these standards, frameworks and related requirements to many thousands of investors around the globe.

Chair of the Corporate Reporting Dialogue, Huguette Labelle said, “This map is the first deliverable output from the Dialogue and is a powerful indication of the clarity and insight that can be brought to the market through bringing standard setters and framework providers together. However, this is just the start of a journey which I hope will bring greater cohesion and efficiency to corporate reporting. Discussions are already underway within the Dialogue to ensure momentum does not stop now, and concepts such as materiality and value creation, where there is still a need to provide greater clarity to the market, are just two examples of future focus areas for the Dialogue.”