Reporting good practice principles

A corporate responsibility report should be a consolidated view of management and performance on responsible business issues. It should also define the reporting period, contain policy statements, objectives and targets, and review performance to enable a year-on-year comparison.

Put into context
Putting the company and its responsible business performance into context includes providing an overview of its structure and operations, major products or services, geographic locations, etc.

Identify key risks and opportunities
These include how the company has identified the social and environmental issues that are most material to its business, and how the company is managing those issues.

Engaging stakeholders
Engaging with stakeholders is an essential part of responsible business. When considering sand dealing with the concerns of stakeholders remember:

  • Publishing a report is not a substitute for stakeholder engagement.
  • The report provides a means to demonstrate that the company has taken account of stakeholders’ views.
  • Reporting should summarise the stakeholder engagement process and how stakeholders shape the company’s priorities in given areas.
  • The corporate responsibility practitioner’s role is to bring in stakeholders to inform or influence the business.
  • There is a range of existing stakeholder engagement processes available to the practitioner, eg customer and employee surveys.

Identify performance
Performance, including both achievement and underachievement, is demonstrated by key performance indicators (KPIs):

  • KPIs should cover both process (management KPIs) and impact.
  • KPIs should provide critical performance information.
  • KPIs should be linked to business goals and objectives.
  • Performance against targets provides a basis for reviewing overall performance.

Provide assurance
This involves providing an account of how the company assures quality.

  • Key performance data should be assured.
  • The value comes not just from having an audit statement in the report but from the involvement of an independent person in the process.
  • Assurance adds credibility to the company’s reporting disclosures.
  • Assurance provides the practitioner with additional leverage within the business
  • Any tendency towards ‘spin’ can be tested by the assurer/verifier.
  • Assurance helps companies to focus on the key issues by probing how and why they decide to include an issue.
  • External standards and reporting guidelines such as GRI and AA1000 provide a framework to test for completeness and materiality.

Other issues to consider

  • Year-on-year comparability – but without preventing new issues and performance information being added.
  • Information overload – the report shouldn’t be a dumping ground for all the social and environmental data available.
  • Scope and comprehensiveness – be clear about the scope of the report and aim to cover the key issues comprehensively.
  • Forward looking – the report should contains commitments for the year ahead.

See also