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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
10.04.2005 ET
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The Largest Listed Companies in 11 Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries Disclose More Information on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Issues
Released by the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program - Tuesday, October 4, 2005
(CSRwire) Today, the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program publishes
its fifth semi-annual Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) by the Ten Largest Listed Companies (by market
capitalization) in 11 Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries.
Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and
Slovenia were surveyed for the fifth time; companies in Hungary and Poland
were surveyed for the fourth time; and companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and
Romania were surveyed for the third time.
Moreover, in response to a request from the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock
Exchanges, an analysis of CSR disclosures by the ten largest listed
companies (by market capitalization) in Greece and Turkey is included in
the survey for the first time.
PFS Program interns Joanna Karnat, Janis Oskajs and Tomasz Zych conducted
the survey from July through September 2005.
PFS Program surveys analyze the annual reports and websites of the ten
largest listed companies in the above-mentioned 11 CEE countries in order
to document the current disclosure practices of this "blue-chip" peer
group and identify best practice among the peer group. Whereas the
universe of companies surveyed may change over time due to changes in a
company's market capitalization, the semi-annual surveys of reporting on
CSR represent a snapshot of this peer group's CSR disclosure practices on
a given day twice a year. Furthermore, by analyzing disclosures in both
annual reports and websites, the surveys track the timing of the
publication of the annual report and the related yet separate issue of
periodic disclosure, namely, how blue-chip companies keep their websites
data-rich and up-to-date.
This survey analyzes companies' disclosures in English (in the
English-language annual report and on the English-language company
website) during the time period July - September 2005 on the following
three topics: corporate governance, environmental policy and social
policy. The record date for the disclosures is September 15, 2005.
This survey demonstrates a general increase in the amount of information
disclosed in the English-language on a range of issues since the last
surveys, conducted in April 2005 and August 2004. In several areas, no
significant change was observed; only in a few areas was a slight decrease
in the amount of information disclosed observed.
In Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia all ten of the companies
surveyed have an English-language website; however, companies in Latvia
and Lithuania generally do not disclose information on all three topics
surveyed. In Hungary, nine of the ten companies have an English-language
website. In general, companies in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia are the
leaders in disclosing CSR information among the 11 CEE countries surveyed.
The level of disclosure among companies in the three non-European Union
(EU) member countries (Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania) increased slightly
or remained unchanged since the last survey conducted in April 2005.
Survey findings include the following:
89% of the companies surveyed have an English-language website
(compared with 83% in April 2005 and 84% in August 2004);
78% of the companies surveyed have an English-language annual
report (compared with 65% in August 2004);
79% of the companies surveyed disclose information about their
governance structure on their website (compared with 71% in April 2005 and
69% in August 2004);
68% of the companies surveyed disclose information about their
governance structure in their annual report (compared with 52% in August
2004);
48% of the companies surveyed disclose information about their
shareholder rights policy on their website (compared with 35% in April
2005 and 46% in August 2004);
41% of the companies surveyed disclose information about their
shareholder rights policy in their annual report (compared with 44% in
August 2004);
48% of the companies surveyed mention compliance with
environmental standards on their website (compared with 41% in April 2005
and 37% in August 2004);
27% of the companies surveyed mention compliance with
environmental standards in their annual report (compared with 28% in
August 2004);
42% of the companies surveyed disclose employee
development/benefit policies on their website (compared with 36% in April
2005 and 28% in August 2004); and
48% of the companies surveyed disclose employee
development/benefit policies in their annual report (compared with 42% in
August 2004).
Starting today, the survey is available online at:
http://www.pfsprogram.org/capitalmarkets_research.php
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About the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) established
the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program in 1999 as a
public-private partnership to help complete reforms necessary to create
sound, private and well-functioning financial sectors in the eight Central
and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries that have since joined the European
Union. In 2005, the geographical focus of the program shifted to Southeast
Europe (SEE).
East-West Management Institute (EWMI), a New York-based not-for-profit
organization, is currently the primary implementing partner.
The PFS Program is mandated to fill remaining gaps in the institutional
development of the financial sector in CEE and SEE countries through
regional integration and cooperation, selective technical assistance
programs and the practical application of lessons learned in neighboring
countries. The substantive areas covered under the PFS Program are:
accounting, auditing, banking, capital markets, insurance and pension
reform. For more information, please visit the PFS Program website at http://www.pfsprogram.org
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