As global corporate reporting requirements continue to expand, companies are under growing pressure to deliver disclosures that meet higher standards of reliability, transparency and detail.
The upcoming Corporate Reporting Forum, taking place in New York City on November 6, 2024, aims to help reporters enhance their practices to provide greater strategic value. By improving the quality of corporate disclosures, we hope to support more informed decision-making and better meet the needs of public company stakeholders.
One of the most anticipated sessions of the day will examine the critical role of cross-departmental collaboration, and how working with other teams in your organization can help drive reporting that fulfils stakeholder expectations.
Carrie Christopher, former senior director of governance at US telecoms giant Cisco and former senior director of ESG and sustainability at software company Splunk, is tackling the topic alongside Erika Balbuena, head of ESG and sustainability at Robinhood, and Lisa Ware-Alexander, vice president, deputy general counsel, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer at Bunge.
IR Magazine caught up with Christopher to ask more about what she will be discussing at the Corporate Reporting Forum, as well as what she is excited to hear about at the event and which challenges will define corporate reporting in the future.
You'll be talking on a panel titled ‘Cross-department collaboration to fulfil stakeholder expectations’ at the Corporate Reporting Forum. Which aspects of this topic are you keen to explore?
The Corporate Reporting Forum brings together so many stakeholders in the world of reporting – it’s a complex, quickly-moving field with global regulations, frameworks and standards that many reporters are having trouble navigating. I’m excited about sharing leading practices, gotchas and guidelines for reporters to think about when they are preparing their financial and voluntary corporate reports, [including] how to build out their reporting teams [and] how to listen and understand what issues matter most to a business and its stakeholders.
In today’s stakeholder economy, corporate reporters must stay on top of multiple needs and perspectives of their audience and target a meaningful, decision-useful and readable corporate reporting suite that satisfies regulators, investors, communities, employees and others. We’ll share how to do this on the panel, and folks will have an opportunity to ask questions and leave the forum with a solid set of tools to bring back with them.
Can you tell us about your background in the corporate reporting field and some of the things you're looking forward to hearing about at the event?
I published my first corporate sustainability report in 2006, and I worked on the company’s 10-K and proxy as the lone sustainability and climate expert in the room. I’ve been fortunate to have a front-row seat, watching the practice of corporate reporting grow, and I’ve been able to help drive the standards and frameworks for corporate reporting through many global working groups, task forces and standard-setting bodies, from WEF to GRI and SASB and ISSB.
I’m most excited about the convergence of financial and non-financial reporting and the recognition that things like climate risk, social impact and workforce development are financially material issues that can make or break a modern corporation. I’m looking forward to sharing and learning from others at this event. In my mind, it’s the best one-day, one-stop-shop where you can hear from issuers, regulators and leaders in the field.
What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced in your profession so far and what do you feel is the next big challenge on the horizon?
The biggest challenge – and greatest joy – is building out a corporate reporting practice and ensuring consistent, credible and accurate disclosures across voluntary impact reporting, financial filings and proxy disclosures, [as well as] working across the corporation to build cross-functional excellence and sharing progress on issues that matter most to the business and its stakeholders. I’m really excited for more global harmonization of disclosures and standards – we’re not out of the woods yet, but we have moved so fast in the past few years. I’m excited about integrated reporting, standardized, credible metrics and risks, and the elevation of things like climate risk and strategy alongside financials, comparing apples to apples and demonstrating impact and value for stakeholders.
If you were to give your audience at the Corporate Reporting Forum one piece of advice, what would it be?
Soak it in! This is such a great event with so many thought leaders across all aspects of corporate reporting. Listen, share and take advantage of the networking opportunities – you will leave with some great new tools and resources to take back to your company after the event.
Laurie Havelock
Laurie has been part of the IR Magazine team for more than a decade, starting out as a reporter and research editor before becoming editor in 2023. He was previously acting business editor at the i newspaper and deputy business editor at The Daily...
