Читать книгу The Integrated Reporting Movement - Eccles Robert G. - Страница 7

In 2011, South Africa became the first country to require integrated reporting on an “apply or explain” basis.1 In 2014, it remains the only country to have done so. Since the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) added King III to its listing requirements – which as of 2011 have included integrated reporting – some 4502 South African companies have been filing reports that present both financial and nonfinancial information3 in a meaningful way. While a variety of proposals related to sustainability and integrated reporting have been submitted in countries of the European Union,4 and while an initiative by the World Federation of Exchanges slated for discussion in 20145 would require some form of nonfinancial reporting,6 no other country has shown signs of implementing such a far-reaching requirement.

Those not deeply entrenched in the topics of corporate governance and reporting are often surprised to learn that South Africa is the first country where integrated reporting was given a widespread mandate. Indeed, in 20 years the country's corporate governance code went from being undeveloped to regarded as an international vanguard. The governance principles that would launch South Africa's integrated reporting journey coincided with the country's first multiracial elections in 1994. In codifying values of stakeholder inclusivity – the idea that nonshareholder interests and expectations should be taken into account during strategic decision-making – those principles testified to a burgeoning democracy's effort to create structural and corporate transparency where, previously, corruption had prevailed. Because integrated reporting's meaning in South Africa – for companies, investors, and the country as a whole – must be seen in the context of its evolution from corporate governance principles, and because the movement has gathered more momentum in South Africa than any other geography, we will describe the motives of the key individuals and groups that led to this recommendation, ultimately reviewing the results of this country's experience.