Smart Media appointed Training Foundation Partner for Integrated Reporting
View(s):Smart Media The Annual Report Company has been appointed a Training Foundation Partner for integrated reporting by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).
Mr. Raja Senanayake.
Dr. Vijith Kannangara.
The objective of this training is to develop the capacity, skills, and flexibility for organisations to put integrated thinking and integrated reporting into practice. Integrated reporting is an evolution of corporate reporting that looks beyond financial statements alone, focusing on concepts such as how “off-balance sheet” capitals too contribute to the value creation process, Smart Media said in a media release.
As far back as 2000, Smart Media partnered with a client to highlight the role of customers and relationships with them in the value creation process. Going further, in 2011, stakeholders were identified as forms of off-balance sheet capitals in Asia’s first integrated report for Diesel and Motor Engineering PLC (DIMO). “While a number of Sri Lankan companies are already producing integrated reports, the real challenge is in incorporating integrated thinking into their business models,” noted Dr. Vijith Kannangara, Chairman of Smart Media, “Our training and capacity-building arm, Smart Academy, is positioned to help corporates in taking integrated thinking and integrated reporting to the next level.”
Raja Senanayake, Chief Officer of the Smart Academy, said: “As provided in the IIRC’s Integrated Reporting Framework, we take a principles-based approach in describing the value creation process. This includes customising the classification of capitals and depictions of the business model to communicate the story.”
Targeting the information requirements of diverse stakeholder groups, while not creating clutter, has long been a challenge. “One solution is the smart choice of multiple mediums. For example, Sri Lanka Telecom partnered with us to launch their first online HTML annual report for 1999 and Hayleys PLC did the same to launch their first video annual report for 2012/13,” Mr. Senanayake said while also noting the growing role of social media in annual reporting.