New Integrated Reporting draft outline sets out structure

The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), the body which aims to create a globally accepted framework for financial, environmental, social and governance information, has released a draft outline of the Integrated Reporting Framework.
The initiative’s pilot programme is backed by more than 70 of the world’s largest companies, such as HSBC, Microsoft and Coca-Cola and 20 investor organisations. Investors signed up to the project include major institutions including Dutch pension asset management giant APG, the UK’s Railpen and Norwegian Government Pension Fund manager Norges Bank Investment Management.
The new draft outline establishes, for the first time, the basic structure of the framework and is intended to keep stakeholders informed as it is developed.The IIRC also said that a prototype framework would be released by the end of 2012 – with the draft framework being produced for public consultation in early-mid 2013. A “version 1.0” of the framework will appear in late 2013.
“The concept of ‘integration’, embedding value-relevant financial and non-financial information into strategic decision-making and a company’s reporting cycle, is gaining momentum as a vital step in the evolution of corporate reporting globally,” said IIRC Chief Executive Paul Druckman.
He said the group would welcome stakeholders’ thoughts on the structure of the framework.
The IRRC said support for the principle of Integrated Reporting has been “overwhelming” – as demonstrated by the responses to its discussion paper last year. The vision is for < IR > to be accepted globally as the corporate reporting norm. Link