The rate of growth in the number of corporate non-financial reports has
slowed in the last three years, while their length has steadily
increased over the same period.
The trend has been picked up in an analysis by CorporateRegister.com of
the 10,983 non-financial reports logged on its database since 1992.
‘The slow-down in the number of reports produced appears to be a
worldwide trend,’ said Paul Scott, director of the online database of
reports. ‘Countries that were the first to start, such as Sweden and
Denmark, have almost reached saturation point, and the rate of growth
has slowed elsewhere too.’ This follows a period of rapid growth since
2000, during which the number of non-financial reports produced rose
from 826 to 1857, according to Scott’s analysis.
The number of reports from France, Portugal and Spain rose sharply
between 2000 and 2005. Aside from saturation, the slower growth was due
to cultural and regulatory factors, according to Scott, with US
companies still having legal concerns about disclosing data.
At the same time, reports are getting longer. Their average length rose
from 34 pages in 2002 to 44 pages in 2005. ‘Companies are trying to
squeeze more issues into their reports, which should be getting more
concise,’ said Scott. ‘Surveys show the audience does not read long
[printed] reports,’ he added.
The analysis found that an increasing number of companies now include
non-financial data in the annual report. However, Jennifer
Iansen-Rogers of KPMG Sustainability Services warned that integrated
reporting may result in less CSR data being disclosed. ‘What works for
the financial markets and shareholders may not work for customers,’ she
warned.
European companies have accounted for more than half of all reports in
every year since 1992, though their share has declined as companies
elsewhere adopt the practice. Fewer than one in ten companies in
Germany, Italy and the UK, the main reporting countries, last year made
use of Global Reporting Initiative guidelines, but the proportion is
rising steadily.
see editorial
