Senior executives’ perspectives of integrated reporting regulatory regimes as a mechanism for advancing sustainability in South African listed companies

Abstract

South African listed companies are among the fi rst in the world to be subject to compliance with integrated reporting requirements in terms of stock exchange listing requirements. Integrated reporting, as a novel and evolutionary step in corporate reporting, along with the infl uence that integrated thinking and integrated reporting principles will have on companies, has been the subject of global debate in recent years. This study, performed two years into the South African integrated reporting regime, aims to summarise the fi ndings of the perceptions of chief executive offi cers (CEOs), chief fi nancial offi cers (CFOs) and senior executives of South African listed companies on the organisational changes perceived as a result of implementing integrated reporting requirements. The fi ndings confi rm and strongly support several of the anticipated organisational outcomes of a regulatory integrated reporting regime, most notably the advancement of strategic decisionmaking that recognises the organisation’s dependence on resources and relationships in creating and sustaining longer-term stakeholder value, greater consideration of the linkages and interdependencies between fi nancial, social and environmental, and economic matters in setting strategic objectives, and an increased organisational focus on integrating social and environmental objectives into strategic objectives and aligning reported key performance indicators (KPIs) with external stakeholder requirements. Integrated reporting is also perceived as encouraging decision-making in the organisation with the objective of longer-term sustainable wealth-creation. However, maintaining the balance between transparency and business confi dentiality when disclosing forward-looking information and strategy remains a challenging aspect of integrated reporting for companies.

Key words: Corporate reporting and organisational behaviour, disclosure regarding forward-looking statements, disclosure of KPIs (key performance indicators), environmental strategic objectives, integrated reporting, integrated thinking, social strategic objectives, sustainable capitalism, sustainability reporting, sustainable wealth-creation, sustainable business practices