In our response to the European Commission (EC) consultation on revising the Non-Financial Reporting Directive, we support corporate reporting that connects financial and non-financial information. We advocate for strengthening NFI assurance requirements, building a common comprehensive NFI standard and tackling the substantial issues in NFI reporting. In particular, the EU should consider that:
- standard setting requires a multi-stakeholder approach with robust, independent governance and sufficient resources
- a voluntary, simplified reporting standard for SMEs could reduce administrative burden and effectively support delivering information on demand
- the materiality definition should be clarified to encompass wider impacts on society and the environment
- assurance should be mandated at EU level
- the scope should encompass all companies that significantly impact the environment and society
- NFI should be disclosed as part of the management report, and needs to cover what is material to the company
