Here’s the latest in my series of analyses about U.S. integrated reporters. AEP is an electric utility based in Ohio that serves customers in 11 states. Its Corporate Accountability Report is a supplement to its annual report but is featured on its investor relations home page.
It’s the first report that I’ve reviewed that exists (as far as I could see) as a website only (without any downloadable documents). The basic characteristics are as follows:
| Corporate Status | Public |
| Year | 2016 (with data from 2015) |
| Title | Corporate Accountability Report |
| Theme | The Power of Diversity |
| Report Type | Supplement |
| Location on Website | Investor Relations |
| Media | Web |
| Number of Pages | 75 separate web pages |
| Value Distribution | Narrative, Graphics, Metrics |
| Stakeholder | Identify stakeholders |
| Standards | Follow GRI, Consider IIRC, SASB |
| Assurance | AEP Internal Auditors |
| Use capitals framework | No |
Although most companies mention their stakeholders, this report goes the extra step of identifying them using this graphic:
The company also provides a detailed discussion of its evolving business model and discusses three areas where they are investing for the future. These investment areas correspond to many of the six (or seven) capitals in the integrated model. I’ve always thought that intangible capital expenditure would be a great metric for the capitals so this approach is exciting. Hope some day they add data!
The Capitals
One of the core concepts of integrated reporting is the inclusion of information about the six key categories of capital. Like most companies, AEP does not use the exact framework but it does include data on aspects of all the capitals. In most cases, the data covers one year of descriptive or demographic data. The report goes farther for key natural capital measures. It includes 15 years of carbon dixide emissions data and seven years of data on water use.
| Coverage of the Capitals | None | Narrative | Single Year
Metrics |
Multi-Year
Metrics |
| Financial Capital | X | |||
| Fixed Capital | X | |||
| Digital Capital | X | |||
| Human Capital | X | |||
| Relationship Capital | X | |||
| Natural Capital | X |
It is a little disorienting to just have the report on the web. And right now, the pages are all static, published once a year. But it’s not hard to imagine aspects of this report becoming more dynamic. It will take time. But it’s the obvious next step for integrated reporting.
This review is part of a series. You can read a summary of ten reviews all in one document by clicking below.
DOWNLOAD U.S. INTEGRATED REPORTING JOURNEY
