The Value Reporting Foundation: Tools to Communicate Long Term Value Creation webinar recordings

This week, the IIRC and SASB hosted webinars on how the International <IR> Framework and SASB Standards, when used together, can provide a more complete picture of long-term enterprise value creation, while meeting investor needs for comparable, consistent and reliable information.

As we set out in our recent blog, a major driver behind the IIRC and SASB’s plans to merge into a unified organisation, the Value Reporting Foundation, is to enable organisations to report on the range of resources and relationships they use to create value.

The <IR> Framework drives a holistic view of the value creation process, while SASB Standards add comparability to sustainability-related data across peer companies.

The lineup of international speakers across both webinars provided excellent insights into the market’s attitude towards the creation of the Value Reporting Foundation.

On 27 April, hosts Janine Guillot, CEO, SASB and Charles Tilley, CEO, IIRC were joined by Alexsandro Broedel Lopes, Group CFO at the Brazilian finance institution, Itaú Unibanco, and Leon Kamhu, Head of Responsibility at financial services firm Federated Hermes International.

Alexsandro spoke of the benefits and challenges Itaú Unibanco has encountered when using the <IR> Framework and SASB Standards:

‘The issue of sustainability is not only important for investors but from a customer perspective. The integrated reporting framework was very important in terms of putting structure to our reporting so we could produce a single integrated report including financial statements. The SASB standards fit very well on the <IR> framework and the merger is a major improvement in terms of perspective and to be able to provide comparable data.’

Leon echoed Alexsandro’s sentiments, adding his perspective on the complementary benefits to investors of integrated reports that are strengthened through SASB Standards.

On 28 April, Janine and Lisa French, Chief Technical Officer, IIRC, welcomed Yuki Tomita, ESG Office at the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Holdings, INC., and Sherrie Trecker, Sustainability Officer, Washington State Investment Board (WSIB).

Yuki offered his business perspective on the <IR> Framework and SASB Standards, reiterating their complementarity and that the Value Reporting Foundation will increase consistency, transparency and accountability in corporate reporting.

During her introduction of the WSIB, Sherrie Trecker noted that they had embedded the SASB Standards for their financial materiality disclosures and industry-specific standards and that consolidation is necessary to reduce the reporting burden on business, as well as reduce confusion in the industry surrounding what sustainability actually means.

She added that the <IR> Framework and SASB Standard have a, “natural alignment in that both were designed to ease the burden of disclosure, not to increase it. But they also fill important gaps for each other as well… The creation of the Value Reporting Foundation is a welcome and necessary step towards continued consolidation of the various reporting frameworks and standards that exist.”