Purple Almond Consulting Services has advocated the adoption of resilient business models in Ghana and Africa in general, to enable firms to survive the economic pressures from emerging markets on the continent.
The corporate governance consulting firm believes that recent socio-economic realities in Ghana require business managers to pursue a business model that is resilient and able to absorb the risks and opportunities that Ghana and other emerging markets will face in coming the years.
“The question is whether the business managers from diverse departments have a common perspective on these issues, and whether they are collectively engaged in integrated thinking as they assess new solutions,” asks Mrs Florence Hope-Wudu, a lead consultant at the firm.
To support business organisations in that regard, Purple Almond, in collaboration with the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) has held a training workshop for corporate managers in Accra on Integrated Business Reporting, Strategy and Excellence in Performance
Among other objectives, the goal of the training was to equip business executives with the requisite corporate development skills to build resilient businesses for enhanced value.
Explaining the essence of the workshop, which was attended by managers from diverse firms, Mrs Hope-Wudu noted that “integrated reporting is the new thinking in corporate governance and is a way to achieve a more coherent corporate reporting system, fulfilling a need for a single report that provides a fuller picture of an organisations’ ability to create value.”
In addition, she noted that the workshop was designed to provide a strategic assessment of complementarities in sustainability and financial reporting, common approaches to materiality and providers of financial capital, as well as emerging approaches to the integration between financial and sustainability accounting internationally.
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According to her, integrated reporting, which has gained prominence in recent years aims to provide a view about better communication of the total value creation in corporate reporting, adding that it considers non-financial resources such as human, social and intellectual capitals as well as financial capital.
In South Africa and Brazil, it is practised on a mandatory basis for all listed companies. (South Africa was the first country to mandate IR).
She expressed optimism that improving the corporate reporting of institutions would create a sense of responsibility for firms, without waiting for regulators to enforce rules to avoid non-compliance.
By Edmund Mingle /adrdaily.com
