The head of Britain's audit watchdog has warned that annual corporate reports have ballooned beyond usefulness, a problem Canadian regulators have also flagged.
Richard Moriarty, chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council, said the costs and expectations surrounding annual reports have steadily ballooned as more companies devote pages to environmental, social and governance issues such as sustainability.
In turn, company directors must spend larger amounts of time wading through documents.
"We want boards to spend their time on entrepreneurial activity," Moriarty said in an interview with the Daily Mail.
"The more they are in a defensive posture box-ticking, the less they are thinking about innovation and growth."
Outsized annual reports also make it difficult for investors and creditors to track down information relevant to themselves, Moriarty added.
FRC chief calls for reset
Bloated reports have increasingly become a problem in the City. Moriarty confirmed he has been working with several prominent Square Mile figures, including well-known fund manager Nick Train, to tackle the problem.
He said: "It's a long overdue conversation, and the way I put it is wouldn't it be good if this were a once in a generation reset?"
The FRC boss's position differs slightly from the watchdog's job of ensuring auditors meet standards required for the integrity of public markets, but Moriarty wants to create regulation that promotes growth as well as root out bad players.
Canadian securities administrators have raised similar concerns about disclosure overload, noting that excessive reporting can obscure material information for investors.
Watchdog still recovering from past failures
Since taking the top job three years ago, the FRC has gone through major upheaval, seeing a series of high-profile corporate collapses, including Carillion.
The problems spawned a review by Sir John Kingman who concluded the FRC was a "timid" watchdog that was not fit for purpose.
Kingman recommended replacing it with an independent body known as the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority. Plans to do so, alongside an audit reform bill, were ultimately shelved by Starmer's government.
The body continues to face problems, including recent fines on Big Four accountancy firms.
But Moriarty argues that there has been an improvement.
"Audit quality in the UK has come a hell of a long way since that dark period of 2018. There was a complete breakdown of public trust and confidence in the audit profession and indeed its regulation."
He added that if the UK wants growth the FRC must "help businesses and support responsible risk-taking" instead of stalling innovation.