KEYNOTE ADDRESS The corporate reporting challenge “Everything in an Annual Report is material to someone.” Charles Tilley, Chief Executive of CIMA, discussed the current challenges faced by corporate reporting practioners. The keynote address by Charles Tilley, Chief Executive of CIMA, asked our audience a host of questions including: ‘What is the objective of corporate reporting?’, ‘Is it actually worth it?’, ‘Why is it so difficult to involve investors in what they are actually looking for?’ These big questions are often asked amongst us in the corporate reporting world and, as we emerge from the financial crisis, the role of corporate reporting is again in the spotlight. We discuss the current framework in which we operate – the framework put in place during the industrial revolution but, now we ask ourselves whether a framework which was revolutionary itself still holds true today or whether we ought to be reporting in a way reflective of the paradigm shift of the world in which we live. The changes which have occurred since to industrial revolution growth in global population from 1 billion to almost 7 billion today and a projected 9 billion by 2050; China overtaking the US as the largest energy consumer; and the use of roughly 1.5 times the planet in terms of resources which is expected to rise to 2.8 times when the population reaches 9 billion – have meant significant changes in the world and the complexity of business operations. Whilst corporate reporting has been subject to a series of appendices during this time, the recent financial crisis has once again opened up the discussions of the current corporate reporting model and, as Charles Tilley stated in his opening remarks, “If the purpose of corporate reporting is to give the complete picture of the health and prospects of the company, it is broken”. But, he also spoke words of encouragement which ring true - that “good reporting not only helps the outsider (and often the company itself) to make sense of the business, but it makes business sense”. www.blacksunplc.com © Black Sun Plc 2011 3
