Annual Report Symposium 2020: The most important learnings
This year, the traditional annual report symposium was held entirely online. Here are the key takeaways.
The 11th edition of the Annual Report Symposium - organized by the Center for Corporate Reporting - was held completely digitally for the first time. The event was moderated live from the traditional venue - the GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute in Rüschlikon near Zurich. Over 300 registered experts from the fields of communications, investor relations, finance, sustainability and governance followed the plenary presentations and best practice sessions with first-class speakers via livestream and engaged in lively discussions in the chat.
At the end of the symposium, the most important findings were summarized in the "Wrap-up and Virtual Networking" and discussed live with the community in a video meeting. Using cameras and microphones, numerous reporting experts joined in and networked with each other.
"Impact - nothing else matters"
"Impact - nothing else matters" - the guiding theme, which was addressed and highlighted in a variety of ways in the program, opened up a number of questions in advance: What is the purpose of a company and what is it responsible for? How can companies holistically understand and manage the economic, environmental and social impact of their business activities? And how can they credibly demonstrate the impact of their core business at a strategic and operational level?
These are the most important findings
The five most important findings of the Annual Report Symposium 2020 are
- The topic of "impact" belongs on the agenda. "Impact" can be managed through long-term planning and the implementation of traceable processes.
- ESG issues must be addressed, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implemented and integrated into reporting.
- The top management level must deal with sustainability issues, act as role models and carry and live the messages.
- In reporting, priorities must be set and the objectives and target groups that the reporting should reach must be defined.
- The potential of digitalization is to be used for the creation, automation and distribution of valuable content.
