The start of the year offers organisations an opportunity to reset and refocus on their ambitions and goals. This refreshed mindset can also be extended to the organisation's corporate reporting function.
The ability of organisations to understand and realise the tangible benefits of a best-in-class corporate reporting tradition, and how it contributes to an organisation’s overall success, is fundamental to ensuring that corporate reporting is well-positioned within an organisation.
Therefore, developing an organisation’s corporate reporting strategy leads to sustained benefits for the organisation in the short, medium, and long term.
It also helps an organisation to identify the resources required as input and provides clarity on the impact metrics to be achieved. For example, an organisation’s reporting should demonstrate transparency by communicating pertinent stakeholder matters using high-quality data through a robust system and process that ensures consistency with the reported information. Organisations should consider the following when developing their corporate reporting strategy in the new year.
To begin, organisations must align their purpose and overall strategic focus with their corporate reporting ambition. It should involve setting the right goals for financial and non-financial reporting that are aligned with the organisation’s context of value creation over time.
Secondly, organisations must identify their stakeholders' expectations regarding their information needs. It will help organisations assess the types and forms of reports needed to meet these obligations, along with the related resources.
For example, organisations can gain insight into where to include certain sustainability-related information either through an entirely separate report or by using an existing report, such as the integrated report.
Also, organisations can allocate their resources in proportion to the value they create to meet these obligations. The next consideration is selecting the relevant corporate reporting frameworks to apply to both financial and non-financial reporting.
For example, some organisations already apply IFRS Accounting Standards for financial reporting and plan to adopt the IFRS Sustainability Standards for non-financial reporting.
After selecting their reporting frameworks, organisations need to determine their metrics and targets, ensuring they are aligned with the organisation’s strategy and stakeholder expectations.
Management should then put in place appropriate data management and quality processes tailored to their organisation. Finally, organisations must consider establishing a robust, bespoke governance process for reporting.
