28 November 2005
CIMA, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, today expressed its surprise and disappointment at the Chancellor Gordon Brown's plans to scrap the mandatory Operating & Financial Review (OFR) for companies. While CIMA actively supports the drive to reduce the burden of red tape on business, it has long been a supporter of the OFR, which became mandatory for quoted companies for financial years beginning on or after 1 April 2005, and is designed to improve the quality of non-financial information provided by them.
Commenting on the Chancellor's plans, announced today, Charles Tilley, chief executive of CIMA said: 'The drive to reduce the burden of red tape on business is a laudable one, but we believe wholeheartedly in the value of the OFR. Confusing the OFR with a reduction in bureaucracy risks losing the benefits it will deliver to all stakeholders, particularly shareholders. That would be the wrong step and a fundamentally bad one.
'With increasingly complex financial reporting, a framework such as the OFR which enables companies to explain the meaning of the financial report and where the business is going, is incredibly valuable to investors and shareholders of all sizes. Since the IASB has recently issued a Discussion Paper seeking views from interested parties on management commentary, and launched its initiative to progress internationally harmonised reporting standards, we believe taking a step back from the OFR would be a significantly retrograde step for reporting standards in the UK. Our hope is that well managed companies will continue to uphold the principles of the OFR.'
For further information, please contact:
Lynda Hardy Maskell
Chief Press Officer, CIMA
+44 (0) 20 8849 2347
lynda.hardymaskell@cimaglobal.com
Notes to editors
1. CIMA (the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) is the only international accountancy body with a sole focus on business. It is a world leading professional institute that offers an internationally recognised qualification in management accountancy, focusing on accounting in business, in both the private and public sectors. CIMA is the voice of over 85,000 students and 65,000 members in 158 countries and is responsible for the education and training of management accountants who work in industry, commerce and not-for-profit and has more members in the public sector than any other UK based body. CIMA prides itself on the commercial relevance of its syllabus, which is in tune with the activities of high performance organisations, and evolves continually to reflect the latest developments in global business. It is committed to upholding the highest ethical and professional standards of members and students, and to maintaining public confidence in management accountancy. For more information about CIMA, please visit
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