Posted By George Wedgwood See Press release on this proposal from the EU to UK Regulations for Financial Reporting etc. at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/cld/pdfs/pn177.pdf It will affect all quoted companies and “The OFR will improve the quality of the reporting and complete the corporate jigsaw to give investors a clearer picture. It will also help the owners of the business better understand their organisations and think about how people perceive them." Consultation closes on 6 August - see the draft at www.dti.gov.uk/cld/financialreview.htm The OFR will have to include 'non-financial' information like what may affect its performance and people so there may be elements of CSR embedded. However, "The Government proposes to take up the option allowed by the directive of excluding medium-sized companies from the requirement to provide non-financial information," so we may only see the small amount of large companies reporting on people performance issues such as H&S - and most of them already do! Read the Draft and you will see in Section; 3.33 A poor record on environmental or health and safety matters, for example, could adversely affect a company’s standing and business prospects. For regulated sectors, non-compliance could lead to the loss of licence to operate, and in some cases, imprisonment for directors. The OFR requires such matters to be covered, both where they constitute a significant external risk to the company, and where the company’s impact on others through its activities, products or services, affects its performance. For example, information which could be necessary for shareholders to make an assessment of the business includes: • an explanation of risk management approaches employed by a company that stores, transports or uses significant volumes of hazardous or toxic substances that risk damaging the health of workers or others, or polluting the environment or; • how a company that is a heavy user of natural resources, which may become scarce or the price of which may change significantly, is intending to reduce its dependency on such resources; • how a company that may be susceptible to the impacts of climate change plans to mitigate the risks and take advantage of the opportunities presented by a changing climate; • current and likely future compliance record for companies operationally dependent upon legal consents for discharges to air, land or water; • an explanation of the risk management approaches employed by a company to assess the operational impact on biodiversity where failure to avoid or mitigate damage would put development consents at risk. So if you are a quoted company, it will be worth having a read! Regards, George