The King V Code of Corporate Governance was released on 31 October 2025 and, like its predecessor, it firmly entrenches the integrated report and integrated thinking.
Principle 4: The governing body ensures that external reports issued by the organisation enable stakeholders to make informed assessments of how the organisation creates, preserves and erodes value within its economic, social and environmental context over the short, medium and long term.
Speaking at an IRC members’ webinar in November, Chair of the King Committee, Ansie Ramalho, said that Principle 4 should be read with Principle 3.
Principle 3:. The governing body ensures that the organisation’s purpose, strategy and business model support performance that creates sustainable value within the organisation’s economic, social and environmental context.
The two principles are intertwined with Principle 3 encompassing the need for sustainable value creation and Principle 4 directing organisations to report on the three angles of value, namely creation, preservation or erosion over time.
The two principles – and indeed all of the Code’s 13 principles addressing various areas of governance – reflect the underlying concepts of systems value and integrated thinking. Briefly, systems value sees the long-term success of organisations as reliant on the resilience of the socio-ecological systems in which they exist and hence organisations should provide value for these systems. (The King V Foundational Concepts document is definitely worth a read.)
On reporting, Principle 4’s recommended practices cover the governing body’s duty to provide strategic direction on reporting, be accountable for the integrity of reporting, oversight and monitoring, and to approve external reports.
It also includes the preparation of an integrated report, at least annually. King V, like its predecessor, uses the concepts and terms of the Integrated Reporting Framework, which is the international best practice guidance for the preparation and presentation of an integrated report.
On sustainability reporting, King V states that this should address both financial materiality and impact materiality (double materiality) but refrains from mentioning use of particular sustainability reporting standards.
New to King V, is the King V Disclosure Framework. Its purpose is two-fold: A place to explain the recommended practices that have not been applied (and any alternatives carried out), and a place to show the specific disclosures required under each principle, for example, whether the governing body is satisfied on the effectiveness of the organisation’s management of ethics in creating an ethical culture. The Disclosure Framework allows for cross-reference links to where the information can be found (which should be specific rather than a general link to say the integrated report). The Disclosure Framework should be housed on the organisation’s website, states the Code.
(And as a good practice, it should be included in the corporate reporting suite navigation summary.)