BITC responds to landmark discussion paper, Towards Integrated Reporting

The International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) recently published a landmark discussion paper, Towards Integrated Reporting – Communicating Value in the 21st Century.

Integrated Reporting brings together material information about an organisation’s strategy, governance, performance and prospects in a way that reflects the commercial, social and environmental context within which it operates.

From recent events in the financial markets, it is clear that traditional financial performance indicators alone do not provide an holistic view of an organisation's performance.

 

We believe that there is a significant gap in how well companies communicate the connectivity between economic, social and environmental aspects of their operations. From recent events in the financial markets, it is clear that traditional financial performance indicators alone do not provide an holistic view of an organisation's performance.

Since 2002, BITC has promoted an integrated approach to managing and measuring responsible business practice through the CR Index, a tool that challenges and supports large organisations to integrate responsible business practice.

We are supportive of the work the IIRC is conducting and will be running a session on CR reporting, integration, materiality and communications at the Responsible Business Convention 2012, where we will hear from Paul Druckman, CEO, IIRC.

Although we have consulted with our members, what follows is not a consensus of their views and many of them have submitted their own responses to the discussion paper.