HSBC, Microsoft and Coca-Cola back integrated reporting pilot project

Some of the world’s leading companies have been named as participants in a major integrated reporting pilot programme.
They include corporate titans such as HSBC, Microsoft and Coca-Cola, said the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC).
Other big names among the more than 40 global companies include Dutch financial services group AEGON, industrial giant Akzo Nobel, Spanish bank BBVA, French food group Danone, Italian utility Enel and South African mining firm Gold Fields.

Also signed up are UK retailer Marks & Spencer, National Australia Bank and Prudential Financial, the US finance group. Accounting firms such as Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers are also involved. Rosatom, Russia’s State Nuclear Energy Corporation, is perhaps a surprise participant.

Integrated reporting seeks to link firms’ strategy, governance and financial performance with their social, environmental and economic context, the IIRC says.
The IIRC was launched last year by the Global Reporting Initiative and Prince Charles’ Accounting for Sustainability Project with the backing of responsibleinvestment leaders such as APG, the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, Railpen and the International Corporate Governance Network.
The IIRC said the companies involved in the two-year project met for a two-day launch meeting in Rotterdam earlier this month. The committee has coined < IR > to denote the emerging theme.
“These companies are now part of the creation of what the Integrated Reporting < IR > Framework should be, and that is very exciting,” said Paul Druckman, the new CEO of the committee.
The programme will develop case studies and best practice.
“Being one of the first companies involved in the IIRC Pilot Programme allows us to be at the forefront of establishing a true framework for integrated reporting,” said Mark Preisinger, Coca-Cola’s director of corporate governance.
It “provides the mechanism to improve financial reporting” added Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein.
The IIRC’s discussion paper ‘Towards Integrated Reporting: Communicating Value in the 21st century’ is open for public consultation until December 14. Link