At April 1st and 2nd, I’ll be teaching classes in Rennes. As part of the module: Corporate sustainability reporting. It is really helpful that I can use all the material and preparations of my colleague who went last year.
The students will have to hand in an assignment at the end. Evaluating a company’s annual sustainability report using GRI and ISO standards/integrated reporting. The company will be assigned by the teaching staff.
The fourth question on the assignment is:
Propose a table of content for the integrated report of the company.
- Make sure central themes, content elements and guiding principles are present.
This means I’ll:
- Provide an overview on Integrated reporting
- Explain the central themes
- Explain the guiding principles
- Explain the content elements
- Have them analysis the differences between a annual report and an integrated annual report.
Theorie (30 min)
Provide an overview on Integrated reporting
That overview starts with this video.
Central themes
After that we recapture the business model and the concept of value creation.
Guiding principles
In short:
¨Strategic focus: An Integrated Report provides insight into the organization’s strategic objectives, and how those objectives relate to its ability to create and sustain value over time and the resources and relationships on which the organization depends.
¨Connectivity of information: An Integrated Report shows the connections between the different components of the organization’s business model, external factors that affect the organization, and the various resources and relationships on which the organization and its overall performance depend.
¨Future orientation: An Integrated Report includes management’s expectations about the future, as well as other information to help report users understand and assess the organization’s prospects and the uncertainties it faces.
¨Responsiveness and stakeholder inclusiveness: An Integrated Report provides insight into the organization’s relationships with its key stakeholders and how and to what extent the organization understands, takes into account and responds to their needs.
¨Conciseness, reliability and materiality: An Integrated Report provides concise, reliable information that is material to assessing the organization’s ability to create and sustain value in the short, medium and long term.
We zoom in a liter bit on connectivity and conciseness.
Content elements
Organizational overview and business model: What does the organization do and how does it create and sustain value in the short, medium and long term?
Operating context, including risks and opportunities: What are the circumstances under which the organization operates, including the key resources and relationships on which it depends and the key risks and opportunities that it faces?
Strategic objectives and strategies to achieve those objectives: Where does the organization want to go and how is it going to get there?
Governance and remuneration: What is the organization’s governance structure, and how does governance support the strategic objectives of the organization and relate to the organization’s approach to remuneration?
Performance: How has the organization performed against its strategic objectives and related strategies?
Future outlook: What opportunities, challenges and uncertainties is the organization likely to encounter in achieving its strategic objectives and what are the resulting implications for its strategies and future performance?
Have them analysis the differences between a annual report and an integrated annual report.
Read the annual report of the South African bank Nedbank link to annual report Nedbank 2014
Compare this to the annual report of BNP Paribas Link to the annual report 2014 of BNP Paribas
Pay specifically attention to:
The table of content of both reports.- The lay out of both reports.
- Are all content elements present in the report of Nedbank
- Assess the trustworthiness.
Time to go to work (90 min)
The students are going to prepare the slides on question 3. I’ll want to be able to judge sources.
Finishing up (60 min)
3 groups of students present their full presentation slides. I’ll provide feedback.
What to take with me.
- Powerpoint