Brazil ¦ Despite the lack of developed regulations for integrated reporting, Brazilian reports have made great strides. Key highlights • Mission, vision and values all play a critical role in most company reports, often setting the framework for the narrative. • Majority of companies refer to themselves as being global leaders in business and setting the example for others to follow – with a commitment to build a future with diverse stakeholders. • Although most companies define the challenges of sustainability for their business and although there is a reference to strategy, rarely is this reported on in detail or evidenced and never linked to performance. • The sample group was split between those that identified and reported on non-financial risk factors, impacts and mitigation and those that did not. • Governance reporting appeared quite early in some reports and most had good links between mainstream governance processes and sustainability governance. • Of note was the inclusion of ‘a statement of distribution of value add (DVA)’ in most reports, which did not appear in some other countries. Our sample of Brazilian companies provides a great contrast in their approach to reporting to their counterparts around the world. As with many of the other sample groups, some companies are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, however, in Brazil’s case the majority of companies produce and position their ‘Sustainability Report’ as the main review of the year, which is refreshingly presented as a short, concise and accessible ‘story’. Many in the sample group seem to be recent consolidations of smaller companies and, consequently, these reports seem to be used as an opportunity to redefine the business for the future. Although, overall, the structure of reporting follows traditional conventions, the approach is creative and the tone of voice used is often inspirational. Culturally this seems to be the way of Brazilian companies, which goes beyond the somewhat conservative approach to communications we see in the majority of the markets reviewed. This might be down to the relative ‘newness’ of many of the companies and newly emerging market force of Brazil, and is likely to continue as the market develops. Key statistics 70% make a commitment to wider stakeholders 64% link non-financial issues to overall group strategy, objective or vision 36% disclose materiality process 55% identify non-financial risk factors, 36% disclose impacts and mitigation activities 55% have board level sustainability committee 55% provide non-financial performance data * Average report length Average length of narrative Average length of financials Number of ‘integrated’ reports 150 pages 111 pages 30 pages 3 out of 11 reports www.blacksunplc.com © Black Sun Plc 2011 11