Integrated reporting

Abstract

Companies struggle to communicate value through traditional reporting. Integrated reporting can prove to be an effective tool for businesses looking to shift their reporting focus from annual financial performance to long-term shareholder value creation. Such a shift should cover the demand from investors for a structured reporting framework that goes beyond the traditional financial reporting. The International Integrated Reporting Framework will encourage the preparation of a report that shows business performance against strategy, explains the various capital used and affected, and gives a longer term view of the organization. The framework will be attractive to companies who wish to develop their narrative reporting around the business model to explain how the business has been developed. Integrated reporting attained various degrees of popularity depending on the geographical regions. While it is mandatory for all companies listed in South Africa’s stock exchange, in other regions it is used by businesses on voluntary basis. Re-search shows that in the USA the adoption of integrated reporting is slower than in most of the other developed regions.