China ¦ The Chinese reports are almost entirely financially focused making it very difficult for them to effectively integrate financial and non-financial information. Like the European sample group, the Chinese sample of companies surveyed is dominated by financial services businesses (64%). Even allowing for particular disclosure requirements the ease of access into their reports is similar to their non-financial peers. Unlike the Brazilian market, which goes to great lengths to compensate for the difficulties resulting from the need to meet US listing requirements, there seems to be little importance given to the narrative and little effort to write, structure or design the content to improve its accessibility. In addition, the only photography apparent in many of the reports surveyed were head shots of the Chairman, CEO or Board. The financial nature of reporting is driven through the report with extensive detail provided on financial figures, ratios and analysis and little on operations. The only source of strategic content seems to be featured in the management statements with most companies providing a very brief summary of the year and challenges and priorities moving forward. However, there were no action plans or evidence of past strategies having been achieved. Key statistics 36% make a commitment to stakeholders in their overall vision 64% present a clear statement of overall strategy 14% link CR to overall group strategy 55% provide details of nonfinancial risks, 27% impacts and 36% risk mitigation 20% clearly identify non-financial issues 18% provide non-financial performance data 36% have a board level sustainability committee Integrated reporting in China seems to be quite undeveloped with most companies still focusing on the ‘easy’ corporate responsibility issues such as community donations, charity work and other philanthropic activities. Key highlights • MD&As of most reports are almost entirely financially focused and lack any insight into the market or operations. • Management statements are the main source of strategic information and content with most providing a summary of the year and outlining the key challenges and priorities. • Management statements also usually contain a token paragraph about their commitment to corporate social responsibility – although this is usually disconnected from the rest of the report. • Some reports also contain a CSR section which is usually no more than two pages and often located towards the middle of the report. • Majority of reports commence with pages of lists of awards the company has been recognised for. Average report length Average length of narrative Average length of financials Number of ‘integrated’ reports 249 pages 120 pages 129 pages 0 out of 11 reports www.blacksunplc.com © Black Sun Plc 2011 13