SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING
Statistics
Communications
There are some excellent UK reporters.
Chart 5 Global GRI uptake
Vodafone Group seems to win every
reporting award it enters. And for many
years the roll-call of UK reporters winning
awards has become very familiar, for
example, the Co-operative Group, BT
Group and BP. Apart from good design
both in print and online, a knack of getting
the point across quickly without too much
waffle, and appealing overall ‘packages’
rather than dry academic tomes, there’s
little to differentiate a UK approach to
communications from good report
communications anywhere.
Credibility
What distinguishes a real report from
marketing and PR? Several elements
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combine to convince the reader a report is
worth reading and reliable. Firstly, tone and
style. A publication that eulogises the
company is not credible, there needs to be a
Chart 6 Assurance rates: UK vs Global
few warts, targets not met and challenges
which remain. The report needs to address
company issues, with ‘real’ pictures and a
minimum of smiling children and sunsets.
This is all standard stuff, so what else? A
few badges might be appropriate, perhaps a
GRI index and a Global Compact table.
But the element that most readers will look
for is an independent assurance statement.
If they are necessary for annual reports,
they are also appropriate for CR reports.
There are many forms of assurance
statement for CR reports, with
AccountAbility’s AA1000 Assurance
Standard (2008) representing the current
gold standard. Taking all forms together,
whether by a Big4 accountancy or an
©CorporateRegister.com Ltd 2009
independent stakeholder panel, UK
reporting is moving away from rates
approaching 45% a few years ago to The next five years will show:
converge with global reporters at around
■
more reporting on the internet, with
25%. One explanation is simple cost- short printed summaries (40 pages or less)
cutting, as assurance fees may match overall
■
increased use of stakeholder panels, both
report development costs, particularly for a for identifying and prioritising report
multinational stretching across many sites content and to provide external assurance
‘
A publication that eulogises
the company is not credible,
there needs to be a few
warts, targets not met and
in several countries. Another explanation
■
a greater focus on sector-specific and
may be that companies feel their reports are company-specific indicators and ‘material
credible as they stand, and assurance is not issues’
necessary. The fact remains that an assured
■
new forms of reporting: Social media
report is generally regarded as a ‘better’ platforms, Twitter, interactive online
’
challenges which remain
report and a sign of corporate commitment, reporting tailored for specific audiences
so the trend is disappointing (see chart 6).
Paul Scott is managing director of
Outlook CorporateRegister.com, a London-based
UK reporters are in no danger of having CR resources website and consultancy.
their lead taken from them. We have For more information or to get in contact
momentum, and numbers of first-time visit www.corporateregister.com,
reporters (64 during 2008) are not dropping email info@corporateregister.com or
with the recession (40 during 2009 to date). call 020 7014 3366
8 October 2009 ❘ SB Future Proof
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