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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
5.05.2006 ET
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Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries; First-Time Comparison with Peers in Portugal and Spain
(CSRwire) Today, the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program publishes
its sixth 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 sixth time; companies in Hungary and Poland
were surveyed for the fifth time; and companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and
Romania were surveyed for the fourth time.
Moreover, an analysis of CSR disclosures by the ten largest listed
companies (by market capitalization) in Portugal and Spain is included in
the survey for the first time.
PFS Program interns Pawel Dziedzic, Ewa Haratym, Anita Keringer and Anna
Pogorzelska conducted the survey from March 1 through May 4, 2006.
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 March - April 2005 on the following three
topics: corporate governance, environmental policy and social policy. The
record date for the disclosures is April 15, 2006.
In the Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia all 10 of the companies
surveyed have an English-language website. In Hungary and Lithuania, nine
of the 10 companies have an English-language website. In general,
companies in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia disclose the
most information online.
This sixth semi-annual survey notes a generally similar level of
disclosure on company websites to that observed during the past three
years across all three information categories analyzed - corporate
governance, environmental policy and social policy. In general, companies
provide more information on corporate governance than on environmental
policy or social policy. Also, corporate governance codes continue to
significantly impact reporting on corporate governance issues in certain
countries. One trend can be observed. Several companies now issue
separate/stand-alone reports on environmental, social and/or governance
(ESG) issues. Of the 110 CEE companies surveyed, 15 have English-language
ESG reports available on their websites as of April 15, 2006. In contrast,
eight Spanish companies and seven Portuguese companies have ESG reports.
Survey findings include the following:
87% of the companies surveyed have an English-language website,
compared with 89% in September 2005, 83% in April 2005 and 84% in August
2004.
69% of the companies surveyed disclose information about their
governance structure on their website, compared with 79% in September
2005, 71% in April 2005 and 69% in August 2004).
Seven Slovene companies disclose implementation of a corporate
governance code in the annual report, compared with one in April 2005.
Six Czech companies, six Polish companies and five Hungarian companies
now disclose implementation of a corporate governance code in the annual
report.
Nine Polish companies, six Hungarian companies, four Czech companies
and four Slovene companies report on implementation of a corporate
governance code on the company website.
28 companies (25%) now disclose compliance with a corporate governance
code on their website, compared with 20 companies (18%) in September 2005
and 19 companies (17%) in April 2005.
37% of the companies surveyed mention compliance with environmental
standards on their website, compared with 48% in September 2005, 41% in
April 2005 and 37% in August 2004.
37% of the companies surveyed disclose community, patronage and/or
sponsorship programs in the (2003, 2004 or 2005) annual reports currently
available online, compared with 36% in September 2005, 28% in April 2005
and 30% in August 2004.
37% of the companies surveyed disclose community, patronage and/or
sponsorship programs on their website, compared with 47% in September
2005, 37% in April 2005 and 32% in August 2004.
Comparisons of disclosures in annual reports is not as relevant in the
spring edition of the semi-annual survey, since as of April 15, 2006 many
companies have not yet published their 2005 annual report online.
However, it should be noted that Estonia is the clear exception in the
region. By April 15, 2006 nine of the 10 Estonian companies surveyed had
published an English-language version of their annual report online.
However, it should be noted that in many cases the annual report is only
available on the website of the Tallinn Stock Exchange. Nevertheless, in
each of the five previous surveys, all 10 Estonian companies provided
electronic versions of their annual report online and in this survey nine
of the 10 Estonian companies did so. This was not the case in any of the
other 10 countries.
Note: The survey consists of the following documents: a
presentation of data aggregated by country; a database of individual data
by company for the ten largest listed companies in each of the 11 CEE
countries; and a separate database of individual data by company for the
ten largest listed companies in Portugal and Spain.
Starting today, the survey is available online at:
http://www.pfsprogram.org/capitalmarkets_research.php
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 European (CEE) countries that have since joined the European
Union. In 2005, the geographical focus of the program shifted to South
East 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 www.pfsprogram.org
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