International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC)
Posted Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
A little off the Dynamics GP beaten path but information worth passing along especially for accountants. The formation of a new committee for international integrated financial reporting. As of August 2, 2010 the International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) was formed by the Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
What is integrated financial reporting? An excerpt from the IIRC HOME PAGE. “The IIRC’s remit is to create a globally accepted framework for accounting for sustainability: a framework which brings together financial, environmental, social and governance information in a clear, concise, consistent and comparable format – put briefly, in an “integrated” format. The intention is to help with the development of more comprehensive and comprehensible information about an organization’s total performance, prospective as well as retrospective, to meet the needs of the emerging, more sustainable, global economic model.” Click Here to view the IIRC Home Page.
Companies in the public sector are beginning to voluntarily include more information regarding corporate social responsibility or sustainability reports into their financial package. Companies such as Southwest Airlines and American Electric Power are already reporting this type of financial and non-financial information. Since there was no global standard for measuring and reporting on environmental, social and governance performance the awareness of this need became apparent in 2009 by The Prince of Wales and the A4S committee. In December 2009 a meeting of investors, UN representatives, standard setters and accounting groups meet and agreed that an establishment should be created to oversee a generally accepted integrated reporting framework connecting financial and sustainability reporting.
What is the purpose of the IIRC?
The IIRC’s website has the press release and press briefing notes, however, below sited “Purpose of the IIRC,” information is included for your reference.
“The IIRC is being created to respond to this need for a concise, clear, comprehensive and comparable integrated reporting framework structured around the organization’s strategic objectives, its governance and business model and integrating both material financial and non-financial information.
The objectives for an integrated reporting framework are to:
- Support the information needs of long-term investors, by showing the broader and longer-term consequences of decision-making.
- Reflect the interconnections between environmental, social, governance and financial factors in decisions that affect long-term performance and condition, making clear the link between sustainability and economic value.
- Provide the necessary framework for environmental and social factors to be taken into account systematically in reporting and decision-making.
- Rebalance performance metrics away from an undue emphasis on short-term financial performance.
- Bring reporting closer to the information used by management to run the business on a day-to-day basis.”
Click Here for Press Release.
Even though this committee is in the early stages of development and companies participating will more than likely be voluntary there will be more talk about it in the future as accounting slowly moves toward more international standards. Moving toward financial reporting change means utilizing Dynamics GP in different ways to capture new data and create additional reports or develop / update the exsiting tools for reporting on this type of data. As new developments make themselves known we hope to keep you informed.
All information in this article can be found on the IIRC website. http://www.integratedreporting.org/
Tags: IIRC, International Integrated Reporting Committe (IIRC)
Posted in Dynamics GP, News
Amy Walsh
Amy Walsh is a consultant with I.B.I.S., Inc. and Microsoft Certified Business Management Solutions Professional. She is a graduate of Mercer University with a concentration in Accounting and Finance. She has over 15 years experience working with domestic and international enterprises ranging from start-up to established global B2B companies.
With her background in accounting / finance alongside working with Microsoft Dynamics GP as both end user and consultant allows her articulate connectivity into the world of Microsoft Dynamics GP. Her goal is to help businesses succeed in their endeavors through process streamlining, education and finding the right ERP solution.
Need Expert Help With Dynamics GP?
Get the support you need to effectively manage your business.
Learn more about our Dynamics GP support options
