27 April 2017 
Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
In today’s political and economic climate, Universities are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that they deliver value – to their students, the local community, and the wider UK economy. Other sectors that face similar pressures are adopting an internationally-recognised method of corporate finance and value reporting called Integrated Reporting (IR), and many universities are now working towards the IR standard as well.
Last year, BUFDG reviewed the annual reports of seven universities to understand how well they aligned with some of the principles of IR, and the review helped inform universities’ 2015/16 publications. This year, BUFDG has teamed up with the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) to work with four universities to review their 2015/16 annual reports and financial statements. The project, concluding with a report in June 2017, aims to highlight where universities have made progress and to encourage others to adopt the IR framework.
The four universities involved are The University of Edinburgh, Bangor University, Newcastle University and the University of Winchester. Supplementing the project, BUFDG is also working with CIPFA on its IR International Working Group, to explore how IR can be applied in public sector organisations. We’ll be issuing regular updates on the project. If you have any questions or comments, then drop Matt an email.
