NEW YORK (Nov. 16, 2011) – The International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) held a roundtable meeting earlier this week at SAP’s Executive Briefing Center in Palo Alto, California to gather perspectives on integrating governance, environmental and social performance information into organizational financial reporting.
The meeting, co-convened by the AICPA, Ceres and Sustainable Silicon Valley, was attended by business leaders from the corporate, investment, standard-setting and regulatory communities.
The roundtable discussions were led by Paul Druckman, executive committee chairman of The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project and CEO of the IIRC working group. Speakers included Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres; Chad Spitler, global chief operating officer, PMG – corporate governance and responsible investment and Peter Graf, SAP chief sustainability officer and executive vice president of sustainability solutions.
Participants in the roundtable discussed the business case for integrated reporting and the benefits from the perspective of reporting organizations, investors and other stakeholders. The panelists identified challenges to the acceptance of integrated reporting and key factors to accelerating the adoption of integrated reporting in the U.S.
“Organizations are increasingly focused on long-term sustainability, and the IIRC Integrated Reporting Framework represents a significant step towards a globally-accepted solution for better reflecting this focus in business reporting,” said Sue Coffey, AICPA senior vice president, public practice and global alliance. “CPAs play a vital role in this process, working with companies to effectively communicate results in a transparent manner that serves the public interest.”
The Palo Alto roundtable was the second in a series around the world aimed at exchanging ideas with CPAs and other business leaders, investors, regulators and key stakeholder groups on the concepts and principles of integrated reporting. The committee and AICPA jointly convened a June 2011 roundtable discussion on integrated reporting at Bloomberg L.P.’s offices in New York.
The IIRC was formed in 2010 by The Prince of Wales’ Accounting for Sustainability Project, the Global Reporting Initiative and the International Federation of Accountants. The IIRC is conducting a pilot program for organizations who wish to try out the integrated reporting framework. Interested organizations are invited to apply.
A copy of the IIRC discussion paper, “Towards Integrated Reporting: Communicating Value in the 21st Century,” is available online. The comment period will be open through December 14, 2011.
