Exploring a new world of corporate reporting
Compliance first, clarity second. This is how we see reporting today. How should it look tomorrow?
Our multi-part journey challenges the way companies currently forecast success and explores how providing clear, timely, and relevant information is the direction in which the future models should head. Weâve engaged with board directors, preparers, regulators, standard setters and accounting professionals across Canada to share our collective views on what needs to change in order to make corporate reporting more relevant and valuable for investors and other stakeholders today.
Explore each leg of our journey
Part 4: Raising the game
With the current system at a tipping point, how can the auditor effect change for a reimagined corporate reporting model?
Today, stakeholders rely on financial reports for less than nine percent of their decision-making input, according to Baruch Lev and Feng Gu in The End of Accounting. What other information do they use, and how do we know if it’s reliable? We examine how the audit profession can better serve the needs of stakeholders and assess the role that others should play, setting the course for change.
Part 3: Looking to the future
What if we wiped the slate clear of legacy models and patchwork solutions, and began again from the start?
Based on the input of those closely involved in corporate reporting, we propose more fundamental changes to the way companies measure and communicate how they are creating value in this era of rapid business change. We also evaluate the best-known initiative to modernize the framework: integrated reporting.
Part 2: Beyond the status quo
Can organizations better inform investors within the current model? We believe they can.
We combined our research with the ideas of directors, preparers, regulators, standard setters and accounting professionals to propose five strategic changes that would improve the existing corporate reporting framework. These changes are focused on delivering clear and useful information to the market to enable more efficient, confident investment decisions.
Part 1: Plotting the course
Can public companies more effectively deliver useful information to the market and demonstrate the value they create?
Deloitte embarked on a comprehensive review of the current corporate reporting framework and initiated discussions with Canadian board directors. Our key finding: that today’s complex corporate reporting model can be redesigned so that stakeholders are able to gain access more easily to everything they need – no more and no less.
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