News Article - 17 August 2010
Category: Business

Finance leaders back green reporting standards push

A number of important finance professionals have joined the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC), an initiative set up to ensure social, environmental and governance factors are considered in reporting standards. The new committee was formed in December last year when the Accounting for Sustainability Project - headed by the Prince of Wales - teamed up with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

The IIRC's main aim is to create a generally accepted, standardised framework that combines traditional financial and non-financial measures in a way that positively links sustainability and economic value. The committee has significant clout behind it; members include the chairmen and chief executives of the six top global accountancy firms, corporate CFOs from large multinationals including Microsoft, Tata, EDF and Nestle, and a number of academics and representatives from both non-government organisations and independent sustainability projects.

Support for greener reporting standards has been steadily growing throughout the UK: the ICAEW recently released a 16-page guide that explains sustainability to business managers and accountants following several years of work on assurance issues. The issue of defining reporting standards became particularly prominent at the Copenhagen summit last December; many remain unsure about corporate social reporting in general, and are concerned that the lack of reporting standards makes comparing data difficult.

Paul Druckman, former ICAEW president and current Access chairman, is co-chair of the IIRC steering committee. In a recent post on the Access blog, he argues for the importance of sustainability measures:

"Businesses need to report on their strategy and their performance against that strategy, not be focussed on compliance driven disclosure. In addition they have to be accountable for their actions and the impact they have on the environment within which they operate - at every level."

As the low carbon economy gains momentum, finding ways to remain profitable and contribute to the low carbon economy will become more important. The essence of this is integrating financial reporting with sustainability issues. Access business software combines robust and efficient financial reporting with carbon emissions reporting, allowing businesses to quickly see the most carbon-intensive areas of their operation and identify key areas for change.

For more information, please call Access on 0845 345 3300.

Article keywords: Green reporting, management information, business news, reporting standards,

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