‘ NIRCO will increase transparency, accountability in corporate reporting’

THE Nigerian Integrated Reporting Committee ( NIRCO), has said the establishment of the committee will help Nigeria to develop an acceptable framework, increase transparency and accountability in corporate reporting, and make the country more attractive to foreign investors.

The committee has therefore implored regulatory authorities, firms, and institutes to support integrated reporting ( IR) in the country, to provide disclosures on the connectivity of non- financial and financial value creation aspects of doing businesses.

Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, the Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Innocent Okwuosa, explained that NIRCO has been involved in awareness creation and advocacy campaigns for companies to inculcate the practice of integrated reporting, which will provide holistic information for investors to make investment decisions in Nigeria. NIRCO, being promoted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria ( ICAN), was inaugurated last year to serve as an influential committee that promotes the adoption of integrated reporting in Nigeria and the West Africa subregion.

Okwuosa noted that reports posted by most companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange ( NSE), have been found to be deficient, because they lacked vital financial and non- financial information, stressing that the current trend of integrated reporting worldwide calls for Nigerian companies to be proactive.

For him, there is a need to improve on Environment, Social, and Governance ( ESG) disclosure practices by integrating the financial and ESG elements to generate a single integrated report, which allows both the company and its stakeholders, including investors to make better- informed decisions.

He said the Committee is set to train Nigerian professionals such as accountants, auditors and firms on how to prepare yearly- integrated reports as well as the likely benefits of implementing them.