In 2013, 98% of South Africa’s top 100 companies by revenue routinely reported on corporate responsibility (CR), a 1% increase on those who did in 2011, a recent study by KPMG has found.

In its eighth ‘Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting’ KPMG stated that this significant percentage was mostly owing to mandatory reporting requirements imposed by government and the JSE.

Worldwide, the number of companies reporting on CR had increased by 7% to 71% since 2011, while the reporting rate among the world’s 250 largest companies for 2013 was 93%.

KPMG further stated that integrated reporting had gained significant momentum since the last survey in 2011, driven by the work of the International Integrated Reporting Council to define the framework by the King Code of Governance Principles and the King Report on Governance (King III) in South Africa.

Globally, 51% of the companies that reported on CR now included CR information in their yearly financial reports.

“This is a striking rise since 2011, when only 20% did so, and 2008, when only 9% did,” KPMG stated.

“Many companies are taking steps towards integrated reporting by presenting CR data along with financial data in their yearly company reports, but few companies feel confident in stating that they produce an integrated report. [However], 93% of the top 100 companies that report on CR in South Africa state that their reports are integrated,” KPMG said. 

“As a result of the focus on integrated reporting in South Africa, we are starting to see sustainability embedded into the business, linked to the business strategy and no longer being treated as a nice-to-have add-on,” KPMG South Africa climate change and sustainability director Shireen Naidoo commented.

“Companies should no longer ask whether or not they should publish a CR report. That debate is over,” KPMG global climate change and sustainability services chairperson Yvo de Boer said.