Trust built through quality sustainability reporting, ACSI says

26 June 2018
| By Nicholas Grove |
image
image
expand image

Good quality corporate reporting can play a strong role in establishing trust with investors and the community, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors said.

According to ACSI CEO Louise Davidson, good quality reporting enables shareholders to make informed investment decisions and the community to judge whether its confidence in companies is well-placed or misplaced.

“Poor or missing information shows a disregard for stakeholders’ needs and is a signal of risk,” Davidson said.

In its annual review of sustainability disclosure, the ACSI observed an improvement in sustainability reporting over 2017, with evidence of a “core group of pacesetters” for good disclosure practices.

“However, although the leaders are getting better, other companies are demonstrating unacceptable complacency,” Davidson said.

She said twenty ASX 200 companies did not report on sustainability risks at all in 2017. Nine companies have not undertaken any sustainability reporting for two years in a row and were identified as “laggards” in the report.

“These companies are missing an important opportunity to demonstrate that they are serious about managing sustainability risks and opportunities,” she said.

Davidson said ACSI again found that investors favoured companies with high disclosure standards.

“Eighty-three cents in every dollar invested in the ASX 200 is invested in entities that report to a ‘leading’ or ‘detailed’ rating,” she said.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest developments in Super Review! Anytime, Anywhere!

Grant Banner

From my perspective, 40- 50% of people are likely going to be deeply unhappy about how long they actually live. ...

10 months 2 weeks ago
Kevin Gorman

Super director remuneration ...

10 months 3 weeks ago
Anthony Asher

No doubt true, but most of it is still because over 45’s have been upgrading their houses with 30 year mortgages. Money ...

10 months 3 weeks ago

The superannuation industry will be judged by its member services rather than how effectively it accumulates wealth, according to Stephen Jones....

15 hours ago

APRA’s latest data has revealed that superannuation funds spent $1.3 billion on advice fees, with the vast majority sent to external financial advisers....

16 hours ago

The profit-to-member super funds are officially operating as a merged entity, set to serve over half a million members. ...

3 days 14 hours ago