1. +
Joining The Dots –
an introduction to and trends
in integrated reporting
.
Chair: Rebecca Gunn, Manager, Sustainability Reporting, BHP Billiton, Member
GRI Stakeholder Council
Hwang Soo Chiat, Associate Professor, School of Accountancy,
Singapore Management University
Terence Jeyaretnam, Director, Net Balance
Nick Ridehalgh, Partner, KPMG; Content Taskforce Member, IIRC
Victoria Whitaker, Network Manager, Focal Point Australia,
Global Reporting Initiative

2. +
What Accountants need to know about
Integrated Reporting: An Asian Perspective
Dr Hwang Soo Chiat Wong Dan Chi (DC)
Singapore Management University Paia Consulting
Photo credits: Getty
Images

3. +
Study
What is this about? Who are the respondents?
 Ongoing study  Respondents:
 Current results largely based  46 professionals
on SG. KR responses so far
 Key representatives from
are from reporters which are
similar to responses from SG Sustainability reporting.
reporters. Management or Finance
 Survey opinions on  64 students from Accounting
 Disclosure & Business
 Valuation
 Standardisation
 Education

4. No. of GRI reports in SG &
+ KR
Current picture Source: GRI database, 20 Mar 12
SG
69
Korea 58
No. of GRI reports in
Asia 37 34
500 31
Source: GRI database, 20 Mar 12
410 16
5 7 9 10
400 0 3
300
Year of Publication
200
Breakdown of GRI reports in 2011
100
33 Japan
0 114, 28%
Year of Publication India
27, 7%
China
Korea 115
34 28%
8%

5. +
Results - Disclosure
Summary: Non-financial reporting is important (87%) and useful (85%).
The greatest perceived cost of reporting are direct costs required to
gather information and prepare reports. Opinions differ regarding time
taken to reap benefits.
80% 76% 41% 65% 35%
$
Direct costs
needed to
obtain
information
$
Direct costs
needed to
prepare
report
$
Costs to
modify
accounting
system
$
Cost of
assurance
for accuracy
& relevance
$
Risks of bad
publicity if
company is
transparent
Top reasons for disclosure: Time taken to reap benefits
35% 33%
 78% Improved reputation/brand 24%
 74% Improved stakeholder 4% 2% 2%
communication and relationships
 61% Identify areas for cost
savings, reduced wastage
(in years)

6. +
Results - Valuation
Summary: Most believe that non-financial information should be
valued both quantitatively and qualitatively. Most also believe that it
is possible to draw links between financial and non-financial
information.
4%
18%
26%
78%
74%
Quant, in financial terms only
Quant, in both fin & non-fin terms
Quant & qualitative, in both fin and non-fin terms Agree Neutral Disagree
78% 74%
thinks that non-financial information strongly or moderately agrees that it
should be disclosed, it should be is possible to draw links between
valued both quantitatively and financial and non-financial
qualitatively. information.

7. +
Results - Standardisation
Summary: 76% strongly or moderately agrees that standardisation is
necessary, with greater comparability cited as the main reason. There
appears to be low level of sustainability reporting standards.
Top reasons against Awareness of Standards
standardisation:
 50% Standards tend to be
biased towards beliefs of
certain countries or
industries, even with multiple
stakeholder engagement
approaches
 36% Each country or different
stock exchanges may have
their own legislation Users
requirements
Marginal difference btwn no. of
people aware and no. of users

8. +
Results - Education
Summary: Majority there is a need for accountants to receive
education in non-financial reporting, particularly on valuation
techniques and drawing linkages between non-financial and
financial reporting.
Topics of interest
90% says “YES”: 70%
63%
There is a need for 58% 57%
accountants to receive
formal education on non- 43%
financial reporting.
96% says “YES”:
0%
Regulatory and voluntary trends in non-financial
reporting
There is a need for
accountants to undertake Introduction to non-financial reporting frameworks
short courses on non- Valuation techniques of non-financial information
financial reporting. Drawing meaningful linkages between non-financial
and financial information

9. +
Moving forward:
Preliminary recommendations
 Awareness raising (still at nascent stage)
 Promote trust in framework: GRI Ambassadors
 Leverage on authority: GRI with various levels of check
 Value chain: For SMEs to adopt standard
What’s next
 Develop the results into full report for GRI conference, and
conduct further research for other reports/academic papers
 Talk to us if you’re interested to receive detailed results
(danchi@paiaconsulting.com/schwang@smu.edu.sg)