Global risks and opportunities mean that financial information alone cannot give a full picture of a company’s performance. Climate change, environmental degradation, social unrest and internally generated intangibles are addressed by non-financial information (NFI) reporting. However, the hundreds of NFI reporting initiatives available are leading to confusion and the potential for greenwashing. For an effective response to these global issues and stakeholder demands, NFI reporting needs to be harmonised and interconnected with financial reporting.

This thought leadership paper* introduces nine criteria and applies them to four approaches to interconnected standard setting for corporate reporting. It sets out the vision of our independent task force and offers ideas on how we can make progress towards a global corporate reporting structure.

We are reaching a tipping point for a system change, with stakeholders looking for reliable, consistent information. A global solution to interconnected standard setting can meet this need.

The paper also makes a call for market action to drive to a global solution. Our independent task force asks you to send your thoughts and opinions on how to achieve interconnected standard setting to [email protected] by 31 March 2020.

Update: the deadline for comments has been extended to 30 April 2020.

Summary:

*This publication is part of Accountancy Europe’s Cogito series. We set up Cogito (i.e. I think) to provide new ideas for the European accountancy profession, enhance innovation and contribute more to business and society. Cogito publications aim to stimulate debate; the views expressed thus do not reflect the official positions of Accountancy Europe or those of any of its 51 member bodies.