The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) welcomes the release of the International Integrated Reporting Framework

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.