The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) in Francfort: investors and companies foster the integrated reporting

Business transparency was one of the three focus points at the G8 summit in June. The British Government, the summit's host, stated that a lack of transparency is creating a barrier to responsible investment.

Over 150 enterprises and investors leaders participating in the IIRC Pilot Program mirrored the political call for transparency in Frankfurt at the same time.

Indeed during the conference, participants like Unilever, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Novo Nordisk, Enel, Eskom or Danone, Solvay, Natixis Asset Management and Kepler Cheuvreux came together to advance  <IR> as a market-led solution to the growing problem of corporate reports that fail to reveal the true value created by business activities.

These world renowned businesses together believe <IR> can contribute to increased transparency, by embedding awareness of an organization’s value creation, business model and capitals at the heart of its reporting process.

Commenting on the connection, Paul Druckman, IIRC CEO said, “Information is the lifeblood of capital markets, yet today’s corporate reporting is opaque.  Despite its volume, too often it fails the first test of transparency: clarity.  All over the world we are hearing the same message from businesses and investors - that the reporting landscape needs a reboot.  We convene the businesses and investors who are the pioneers of Integrated Reporting, a new model that is being piloted in 25 countries as part of the IIRC Pilot Programme. We hope policymakers will take note of this global market-led movement.  The result will be transparency with a purpose – the purpose being to transform the behavior of businesses everywhere, as well as the behavior of their investors”.

Supporting this initiative, Mazars accepted to share its annual report during the sectoral workshops. The case study across the two days of the Conference aim to translating key concepts, principles and content from the Consultation Draft into tangible and practical approaches to reporting. The discussions between participants highlighted the added value of this unique approach in the accounting and advisory sector, as the different areas for improvement in our annual report.

Mazars would like to thank all participants for their valuable suggestions and will take them into account in the next annual report.