Triple bottom line is a corporate buzzword that means combining environmental, social and financial reporting. It is a way that an annual report can describe the full impact of an organisation’s decisions and actions. The phrase seems to be on everyone’s lips, but the reality is that few corporations or organisations have really attempted to report in this manner.
The same cannot be said for Local Government, which is now being widely recognised as a leader in this area. Last year, Knox City Council in Victoria surprised many when it was shortlisted for the annual report of the year in the prestigious Australasian Reporting Association (ARA) Awards. The other two organisations shortlisted were mining giant Rio Tinto and Australia Post.
A delighted Cr Jenny Moore from Knox, said that while Rio Tinto was selected as the winner of the overall category, this was still an outstanding result for Council.
ARA Immediate Past President, Arthur Delbridge, said that many Local Governments were introducing innovative features, particularly in triple bottom line.
“Local Governments have a great opportunity to develop really fine reporting arrangements,” he said. “They are involved in many different areas and many do the reports well.”
Arthur Delbridge said good examples of Local Government annual reporting included Caboolture Shire and Pine Rivers Council in Queensland and Wollongong City Council in New South Wales.
“Local Governments could move even further by looking at ideas contained in the Global Reporting Initiative,” he said. “I am really pleased with the improvement in Local Government reporting in general, and in particular the efforts being made in Victoria. The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) has been involved in extensive training of Local Government staff and I am pleased with the level of commitment.”
Developments are not confined to the MAV. Since 2002 Melbourne City Council has had an extensive web based toolkit for triple bottom line. Speaking at the 2004 LGPro conference, Melbourne Lord Mayor, John So, said the toolkit was one of the proudest achievements of the Council.
Another recent initiative has been the work of Moreland City Council in Melbourne’s north, where triple bottom line has been integrated into the reporting framework at every level.
In their own separate annual report awards, the Municipal Association of Victoria and Institute of Chartered Accountants gave Moreland’s report a special citation for its approach.
Former Moreland City Council Public Relations and Citizens Services Manager, Kevin Brianton, said the annual report had met the challenge of integrating Council’s priorities, performance statements and other statutory reporting into a simple triple bottom line framework.
“At Moreland there are four pillars on which all Council operations are based,” Kevin Brianton said. “These talk about improving social conditions, creating a sustainable employment base, improving the built and natural environment and there is a fourth pillar of open governance.
“This is triple bottom line plus one. It not only talks about what has been done but how it is being done. The model can be transferred to any Local Government or any other organisation as a way of linking all operations to broader objectives.
“One reason why Local Government is leading the field in innovative approaches for annual reporting is that there is a strong tradition of accountability in the sector.”
He said annual reports were often seen as publications that glossed over errors.
“They are now seen as a means to inform the community and demonstrate open government,” Kevin Brianton said. “Putting in features such as disappointments – the things that went wrong – was once considered a brave move. It is now almost commonplace.”
Placing annual reports on the web has also been a boon for the publication, Moreland City Council’s report is now the most read document by the public on its web site.
