Tomorrow’s company reporting ‐ Stakeholder dialogue in the digital age

The end of the millennium is a useful time to stop and reflect, to review and maybe to ask some big questions. This paper asks a very big question indeed for the accountancy profession ‐ ‘What might corporate reporting look like in the 21st Century ?’ This paper looks at issues surrounding the likely future of corporate reporting in the digital age. The Royal Society of Arts Tomorrow’s Company Inquiry (1995) is used as a possible model of corporate information needs in the next millennia. The implications of the model for corporate accounting and information systems are examined. A move from shareholder reporting, to stakeholder reporting and finally to stakeholder dialogue is envisaged. The model raises a number of problems and the use of digital technology is considered as a partial solution to some of these problems.