How many CSR reporting frameworks do we want? Please don’t ask the accountancy profession. They might invent another one!

A few weeks ago I was rather surprised to come across a project called Accounting for Sustainability which is associated with the Prince of Wales. Further investigation revealed it to be supported by the great and the good drawn from the UK’s accountancy world. It aims, apparently, to supply companies with a uniform set of guidelines to help them report their approach to CSR in a way that everyone can understand.

Partly because CSR reporting is not burdened (yet) with the mass of accountancy inspired and regulatory rules which have conspired to make published accounts hard to understand, there is an internationally accepted framework which is applied for the purpose and used around the world. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has led the way in this area for a number of years. Over time its approach has developed to include, for example, the development of industry specific metrics through collaboration with the relevant industry bodies. One such example is the mining sector supplement which was designed in conjunction with the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). ICMM is tasked with developing a sustainable development framework for the industry.

Companies still find the process of reporting their CSR performance difficult particularly if they are new to this area. Frankly, I think the world could do without another set of tools and mechanisms which are supposed to assist companies with doing this. There is a perfectly good and established process in place already. Surely the corporate world would be best served by developing GRI than producing another set of guidelines.