Framework for Integrated Reporting

March 3rd, 2011 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor

If you are following the debate about so-called ‘integrated’ reporting, you might want to take a look at the Framework for Integrated Reporting discussion paper that was recently published by the Integrated Reporting Committee (IRC) of South Africa. As the paper points out:

…the overarching objective of integrated reporting is to enable stakeholders to assess the ability of an organisation to create and sustain value over the short-, medium- and long-term.

The paper also does a great job of identifying 8 key topics that an integrated report should address, which include looking forward as well as back and the importance of materiality and assurance. Well worth a look if you interested in sustainability reporting or in thinking about the future of ‘external’ reporting software generally.


Posted in Communication, Sustainability | No Comments »


Transparency and Detail Tagging

February 24th, 2011 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor

There have been a couple of related items posted recently that I’d like to briefly respond to. The first is a blog post by Mike Willis on The New Math for Transparency and the second is the tweeted assertion by Daniel Roberts that Until the SEC (and others) can clearly show the value of #XBRL Detailed Tagging to the producing company,  only the Consultants will win. Read the rest of this entry »


Posted in Communication, Transparency, XBRL | 1 Comment »


The Financial Report as Idea

February 23rd, 2011 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor

The Booz & Co perspective paper The Rise of Generation C is well worth a skim to consider its implications for financial reporting and financial information transparency generally.

Just what will it mean to the management and communication of financial content when the next generation of financial information consumers are ‘on the grid 24/7′ and ‘social animals’ and when ‘nonlinear information consumption’ is the norm and the ‘benefits of transparency are seen to outweigh the risks’?

These implications are why it will become increasingly meaningless to consider financial information as somehow ‘privileged’ in any way; rather than as just another form of content that can be shared, enhanced, combined and generally crowdsourced just like any other kind of ‘idea’ in order to add value.

The key step to take is to think of a financial statement not as some kind of fixed ‘report’ but as an idea that has potential and possibilities for innovation. The kind of shift that views a balance sheet not as a fixed presentation of assets, liabilities and equity but as one of many corporate information ‘sandboxes’ that can be crowdsourced for business model improvement.


Posted in Communication, Transparency | 2 Comments »


And that word is…

February 21st, 2011 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor

Remember the movie The Graduate?

I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Yes, sir.
Are you listening?
Yes, I am.
Mashups.
Just how do you mean that, sir?

Actually Mr. McGuire said ‘plastics’ but my point is that ‘mashups’ was the word that came to mind as I read the Financial Reporting Model Task Force report to the FASAB.  Read the rest of this entry »


Posted in Analytics, Communication, XBRL | No Comments »


Wanted: Lab Manager (No Steins)

January 11th, 2011 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor

The U.K’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) appears to have survived the bonfire of the quangos (US translation: withdrawal of federal funding) and has even released a new report of its own. Yet the flames still beckon because from an innovation perspective, Effective Company Stewardship: Enhancing Corporate Reporting and Audit could be considered a little like Macbeth’s rather jaundiced view of life - full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

But maybe that’s too harsh. For buried in the report is the intriguing proposal of a ‘financial reporting lab’ where amidst the bubbling of loosely connected financial and non-financial crucibles some hunchback bookkeeper with bulging eyes can be glimpsed reaching into a giant cauldron and lifting out a steaming new Annual Reporting XBRL taxonomy with the immortal words: “Master…It lives!”  Read the rest of this entry »


Posted in Communication, Sustainability, XBRL | No Comments »


Data vs. Document Centric

December 15th, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor

Understanding the difference between data-centric and document-centric information management in the context of XBRL is key to grasping its utility. As Gary Thompson says in a recent blog post :

A financial report or an electronic health record are not data sources but are instead presentation layers by which data is consumed.

There are in fact three layers to a financial report: the data layer, the content layer and the presentation layer. And it’s important to be clear about why using a data standard, like XBRL, is important at the data layer. Read the rest of this entry »


Posted in Communication, XBRL | 1 Comment »


Dry Run Makes a Splash

November 30th, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor

Here in the UK, all central government bodies that produce Annual Reports and Accounts in accordance with HM Treasury’s Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) are required to include a section in their Annual Report covering their performance on sustainability from 2011-2012. This year, 2010-2011, is termed the ‘dry-run’ year  - a bit like when the S.E.C. trialled XBRL with its voluntary filing program.

The sustainability reporting required is relatively simple but we are warned that ‘the guidance will be updated annually‘ – Government code for expect more complex compliance to come. Note that there is no mention of XBRL so far but the guidance contains lots of excellent information on what a sustainability report could look like and how it is constructed. How soon before the US follows?


Tags:
Posted in Communication, Sustainability | 1 Comment »


Corporate Transparency Reporting

September 28th, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor

I’m becoming more and more convinced that the next big thing in corporate reporting is corporate transparency reporting (CTR) based on what you might call ‘intentional transparency’. So what exactly is CTR all about? Read the rest of this entry »


Posted in Communication, Sustainability, Transparency | No Comments »


The Jelly Hasn’t Set or the Jelly Jive

September 21st, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor

Eric Cohen and his co-conspirators have been manfully evangelizing the XBRL GL (Global Ledger not General Ledger) taxonomy for some years now and Eric’s recent tweet “Are you GL-In?” reminded me that despite being a great concept, XBRL GL still hasn’t taken off yet. So why is that? Read the rest of this entry »


Posted in Communication, XBRL | 2 Comments »


Sustainability Reporting and XBRL

September 17th, 2010 by Stewart McKie - Executive Advisor

As the drive for sustainability reporting gains momentum we should remain mindful of the fact that we have a green-field opportunity to do this right by basing this reporting going forward on a data standard like XBRL. This is not a new idea. As I research sustainability reporting and XBRL, I’ve come across papers and other content from the past that clearly recognized the value of this approach.   Read the rest of this entry »


Posted in Communication, Sustainability, XBRL | No Comments »


« Older Entries
Newer Entries »