Former vice-chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, Ian Mackintosh, announced as new Chair of Corporate Reporting Dialogue

Participants of the Corporate Reporting Dialogue have announced Ian Mackintosh as the Dialogue’s next Chair. Mackintosh stood down as Vice-Chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in June 2016 after five years in the role and has over 30 years’ experience in national and international accounting standard-setting. He will use this experience to drive enhanced efficiency and effectiveness in the corporate reporting landscape globally through the work of the Dialogue.

The Dialogue is an initiative designed to respond to market calls for greater coherence, consistency and comparability between corporate reporting frameworks, standards and related requirements. The Dialogue brings together organisations that have significant international influence in the corporate reporting landscape. It is convened by the International Integrated Reporting Council and brings together CDP, Climate Disclosure Standards Board, Financial Accounting Standards Board, Global Reporting Initiative, International Accounting Standards Board, International Organization for Standardization and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.

Ian Mackintosh takes over from Huguette Labelle, former Chair of Transparency International, who chaired the Dialogue since its inception in June 2014. Labelle oversaw the release of the Corporate Reporting Landscape Map, which provides a simple navigation of corporate reporting initiatives, as well as the development of the statement of common principles of materiality, which compares materiality definitions and approaches of Dialogue participants. The concepts in this paper represent common foundational principles believed to be broadly consistent with all forms of standards’ development and business reporting to stakeholders.

Commenting on his appointment, Ian Mackintosh said:

“I am honoured to have been appointed Chair of the Corporate Reporting Dialogue. I think the Dialogue is important in many ways. It brings together several key standard setters and framework developers so that they better understand each other and their latest developments, so that they can, as far as possible, align their work, share their thoughts and express a common voice on areas of mutual interest. The overall goal is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of corporate reporting by getting the participants to work together as much as possible.

“Going forward, I would like to build on the solid foundation that the previous Chair, Huguette, has put in place and to engage with a broader community to achieve our aims.”

One of the first steps the Dialogue will take under Ian Mackintosh’s chairmanship will be to jointly respond to the Financial Stability Board Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosure’s recommendations. The recommendations include a call from the Task Force for Dialogue participants to “support adoption of the recommendations and alignment with the recommended disclosures.”

Commenting on Ian Mackintosh’s appointment and the important role the Dialogue has to play, Huguette Labelle said:

“Since the Corporate Reporting Dialogue was launched in June 2014 I have seen important progress towards alignment through participation in projects that support a more coherent corporate reporting system. The Dialogue has proved an important means of facilitating discussion among the world’s most widely adopted standards and frameworks in the field and has prompted real efforts to provide greater clarity for preparers and users of corporate reporting.

“I am proud of our achievements and now to be handing on to my successor. Ian Mackintosh has a great wealth of experience in this field and I believe he is the right person to drive this agenda forwards and to bring about real change towards greater coherence, consistency and comparability between corporate reporting frameworks and standards.”

Richard Howitt, Chief Executive Officer, International Integrated Reporting Council said:

“As the leading framework developers and standard setters in the world today, participants of the Corporate Reporting Dialogue have a responsibility to drive alignment in reporting for the benefit of markets around the world. The appointment of Ian Mackintosh as Chair will bring renewed energy to these efforts and the International Integrated Reporting Council is committed to working with Ian and other participants to make real headway so that organisations can effectively communicate their value creation story.”