The recent announcement of the merger between the International Integrated Reporting Council and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board into the Value Reporting Foundation could be one of the most significant steps in the corporate reporting landscape, or it could cause further fragmentation in the name of integration.
The corporate reporting space needs real consolidation and integration. Quite frankly, we have run out of time for alignment only. We have slowly and painstakingly moved from global reporting through integrated reporting to arrive at value reporting .
Whatever the nomenclature, if stakeholders don’t understand the concepts, the metrics will not help. The most recent Edelman Investor Trust Report, a survey of leading institutional investors, is a case in point. Edelman asks the following: “Do investors really care about ESG in the middle of a global pandemic? Or has the focus shifted back to the bottom line?”