Solutions to key challenges in sustainability reporting and their impacts to Australian businesses will be the highlight of a global forum in London, England next week. 
 
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (the Institute) is a founding member and the only Australian accounting body attending HRH Prince of Wales Accounting for Sustainability forum, which will be held on Wednesday, 17 December 2008, and officially opened by HRH Prince Charles, to discuss decision-making and reporting in a resource constrained world.  
 
“We are delighted to be able to participate and represent our members at the forum, which is at the cutting edge of developments in sustainability reporting. We are especially looking forward to be able to share the current work we are undertaking on sustainable reporting practices, most notably through our Broad Based Business Reporting initiative,” said Institute of Chartered Accountants CEO, Graham Meyer.  
 
“The Institute will be participating in workshops to consider current developments and responses to key challenges in improving sustainability reporting. The Institute has done a lot of work in sustainability reporting and we are looking forward to sharing our expertise in some key areas on behalf of our members,” he said.  
 
Sustainability reporting is an integral part of a recent report developed by the Institute entitled Broad Based Business Reporting – the complete reporting tool. 
 
Accounting for Sustainability – Connected Reporting Framework 
 
HRH the Prince of Wales’ Accounting for Sustainability project has developed a Connected Reporting Framework. The three principles which underpin the Framework are: 
 
Sustainability issues should be clearly linked to the organisation’s overall strategy  
Sustainability and more conventional financial information should be presented together so that a more complete and balanced picture of the organisation’s performance is given  
There should be consistency in presentation to aid comparability between years and organisations.  
 
The three principles of the Connected Reporting Framework are closely aligned with the Institute’s Broad Based Business Reporting initiative. Broad Based Business Reporting focuses on the alignment of reporting to strategy and the use of consistent key performance indicators (KPIs) across industries to enable comparison.  
 
“The Institute will be involved in the development of the Connected Reporting Framework at the forum and will be looking at how it could be adopted by Australian businesses for Broad Based Business Reporting” said Karen McWilliams, Manager of Chartered Accountants in Business at the Institute.  
 
The Institute is committed to developing practical, new and innovative business reporting for the benefit of the business community and for a complete and transparent approach to business reporting in the future.