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Enhanced Business Reporting
Attracted by CCI's growing reputation for providing a neutral ground for discussion of issues affecting corporate reporting, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) decided to headquarter a national project on enhanced business reporting at Baruch.
Now in its formative stages, the Enhanced Business Reporting Consortium will be an independent body that serves as an advocate for fuller and more meaningful business reporting. The consortium will lay the groundwork for ensuring that qualitative, non-financial measures of business performance are routinely covered in the MD&A sections of annual reports. Such variables include customer loyalty, employee turnover and strategic planning.
The timing of the Enhanced Business Reporting project is favorable. In the wake of the financial reporting scandals, the federal government is exercising greater oversight, regulators and accounting industry executives are shifting towards international accounting standards, and corporate leaders are looking to reinsure investors that they have fairly and accurately reported on their company. Reporting on non-financial measures, as well as financial ones, will give investors a better picture of an enterprise's current operations and future profitability.
At AICPA's request, CCI Fellow Ned Regan is chairing the Advisory Council of the Institute's Committee on Enhanced Business Reporting. Also serving on the Council are former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, former SEC Chairman Roderick Hills, and Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce Maria Cattaui. The Council is charged with developing a vision for the Consortium and recruiting business and civic leaders to take part in it.
“Our task is to create a consortium of stakeholders, ranging from business executives to investors to regulators who are empowered to fundamentally change business reporting,” says Mr. Regan, the former New York State Comptroller and the former President of Baruch College. “Improved reporting will enable investors to better assess the financial health of a company and the long-term opportunities and risks facing it.”