Johannesburg, Monday, 09 December 2013 – The
South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) welcomes the
release of the International Integrated Reporting Framework as it views
integrated reporting as the evolution of corporate reporting and an
area of strategic importance to its members.
“Local
organisations will find the framework easy to apply and flexible enough
that it can be used by different
types of organisations from listed
companies to private companies to state-owned companies,” says Graham
Terry, the senior executive of strategy and thought leadership at
SAICA.
Integrated reporting is important to chartered accountants
[CAs(SA)] working in business and to those in public practice. The
former group has a particular interest in a framework that is
internationally accepted, and the latter group has an interest in
consulting on integrated reporting and integrated thinking and in the
assurance of the integrated report.
“The longevity of a business
can depend on whether it has considered and worked into its strategy
the commercial risks and opportunities stemming from its essential
resources, such as water, and its relationships with its key
stakeholders, such as employees, trade unions, investors and community
groups. In South Africa, these factors are particularly important given
the constraints on water and other environmental resources, the
fragile labour situation, and the wide income disparity.
“An
integrated report shows the inter-dependence of a business with society,
stakeholders and the environment, and allows investors and other
stakeholders to make a more informed assessment of the company and
whether it will be around in the future,” adds Terry.
SAICA has
played a leading role in the development of integrated reporting locally
and internationally. It is a founding member and the secretariat of
South Africa’s Integrated Reporting Committee (IRC) and Working Group
that developed the world’s first discussion paper on integrated
reporting. Internationally, SAICA’s Graham Terry CA(SA) and Leigh
Roberts CA(SA) are members of the IIRC Working Group and Technical Task
Force respectively and have spent many hours over the past three years
developing the International Framework and feeding through the
integrated reporting experience of South African companies. SAICA has
also contributed to the IIRC’s various Technical Collaboration Groups
including the international group looking at the assurance of the
integrated report.