30 October 2018

FRC to examine the Future of Corporate Reporting

The FRC is launching a major project to challenge existing thinking about corporate reporting and consider how companies should better meet the information needs of shareholders and other stakeholders.

The FRC will review current financial and non-financial reporting practices, consider what information investors and other stakeholders require and fundamentally, the purpose of corporate reporting and the annual report. The different types of corporate communications produced by companies will also be examined.

In recent years there has been a growing debate about the purpose of the annual report and the audience for it. Despite initiatives such as ‘Clear & Concise’ and ‘Cutting Clutter’, there is ongoing pressure from users to streamline the annual report.  Reporting requirements though continue to increase so the FRC will seek a balance between the needs of users and the costs and practicalities of providing this information for companies.

Paul George, Executive Director of Corporate Governance and Reporting at the FRC, said,

“Accounting and reporting plays an important role in building trust in business and providing information for investment decisions, and the Annual Report is one of the cornerstones of reporting. However, corporate reporting is wider than this. We are seeing developments in the responsible business agenda and the need for businesses to be accountable to a wider group of stakeholders. Reporting is evolving in response to these developments and so the project will examine the extent to which the annual report or other communication channels best serve all stakeholder needs."

“Importantly, in a technology-enabled world, the FRC will consider other methods to facilitate the delivery of information to stakeholders.  New models for corporate reporting will inevitably lead to considerations of how audit and assurance models will need to evolve to respond to the changes. This project complements our work on the future of audit.”

Full press release

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