Thought Activity: - Essay Example

It seems to me that IR takes into account different aspects of an organization like capitals, business model of the organization and the creation of value over time. When it considers capital it does not take capital as conventional financial accounting does; it considers other non-tangible capitals like ‘intellectual capital’, ‘human capital’, ‘social relationship capital’ and ‘natural capital’ along with financial and manufactured capital. I think IR is a totally new approach to corporate reporting, which demand skills to analyze qualitative information along with conventional financial data.

In my opinion, a person responsible for preparing a report in a format prescribed by IR needs to have some additional skills and knowledge along with conventional financial skills and knowledge. He will be no longer a passive accountant or examiner of finance related data; he will need to actively apply his knowledge, analytical skill and judgments. I understand that the new means of reporting will pose a challenge to the present accounting professionals (accountants, auditors) who mainly work with figures and prepare financial statements.

They need to acquire some additional skills and knowledge. In my poinion, accounting professional will need new training. The IR will change the way an accounting professional is trained and educated. . It gives no information about the efficiency of the organization. How will one know the real value of one’s intellectual capital, human capital or the value of relationship? How successful is an organization in meeting its short term and long term goals? A conventional accounting and reporting system cannot answer these questions clearly.

But in the present business scenario where doing business involves investors, creditors, suppliers, customers from all over the world, answers to these questions are necessary. The conventional business reporting is no longer sufficient to assess the stability or sustainability of an organization; it needs more skills, more knowledge and analysis of more factors related to business. The new Integrated Reporting is just doing that. Activity Two: (chapter 2: Do you agree with this approach to the capitals?) The IIRC named 6 types of capitals that should be taken as a benchmark while preparing an IR for an organization.

The six capitals are ‘financial capital, manufactured capital, intellectual capital, social relationship capital, human capital and natural capital’ (IIRC, 2013). To assess stability and sustainability, especially the long term sustainability, of an organization a thorough examination of all these capitals is necessary. From a traditional point of view, some of the capitals like intellectual capital, social relationship capital and natural capital may look irrelevant to company reporting; but they are of immense value for the performance of an organization.

A good relationship with suppliers or customers will help a company to overcome difficult times. A healthy natural environment of an organization will attract better professionals who, in turn, will add additional values to the