Integrated Reporting: Where Have All The Academics Gone?

The newly established International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) announced its formation last week. Having been involved with one of the IIRC's main sponsors, the Prince's Accounting for Sustainability charity, I certainly welcome the formation of IIRC and would wish to endorse its aims. Elsewhere in the blogosphere there have been some reservations expressed about the ability of the IIRC to deliver on its stated aims, which is understandable and also welcome, since it is essential that the work of the IIRC is visible and subject to proper scrutiny and critique.

My own reservation about the IIRC is the apparent lack of academic representation on the main working group. Despite recognising the role of academics as valuable stakeholders in the development of integrated reporting, and despite the work of the academic teams involved in the recent A4S book published last month, the IIRC have not yet appointed any academics to the working group. I sincerely hope that the IIRC reconsiders this situation and seeks to appoint at least one academic to the working group.