On 25 January 2011, South Africa’s Integrated Reporting Committee (IRC) will release its Discussion Paper on a framework for an integrated report.

It will be interesting to see the response, both locally and internationally.

There may well be some criticism.  Hopefully though, there will be those who see the Discussion Paper as having some worth in the “blue sky” territory of integrated reporting.  For indeed, it is an area where there is little existing guidance or precedence. The working group of the IRC (it  developed the Discussion Paper)  had to do a lot of  ‘original thinking’ and come up with what it saw was a soundly based structure for an integrated report.

The Discussion Paper reflects new ideas and concepts and as such is likely to receive some harsh words.  But it is only a Discussion Paper.  Changes can and will be made to the guidance.

And it’s so much easier to correct and amend existing copy than it is to start with a blank page.