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Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Updated Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) – July 2009
From June 1-25, 2009 PFS Program Intern Jun Rentschler (Germany) updated the PFS Program’s Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI).
The initial database was published on this page of the PFS Program website on October 25, 2002. It contained contact information about more than 275 organizations whose SRI activities were reported online and/or in the financial press. The initial database divided the organizations among eight categories.
Since then, the database has been updated seven times. A second edition of the database was published on February 16, 2005; it contained 726 organizations divided among ten categories. A third edition of the database was published on October 7, 2005; it contained 709 organizations divided among ten categories. A fourth edition of the database was published on July 27, 2007; it contained 793 organizations divided among ten categories. A fifth edition of the database was published on December 17, 2007; it contained 799 organizations divided among ten categories. A sixth edition of the database was published on August 1, 2008; it contained 854 organization divided among 11 categories. A seventh edition of the database was published on December 16, 2008; it contained 920 organizations divided among 12 categories.
This eighth edition of the database, with current information as of June 2009, contains 1,176 organizations divided among the following 12 categories: Academia (38 institutions); Awards/Prizes (12); Companies/Listed Companies (330); Conferences and Events (186); Financial Institutions (152); Governmental Organizations (52); Indices (31); Media (62); Non-Governmental Organizations (206); Professional Associations (40); Public-Private Partnerships (eight); and Rating/Research (59). It includes institutions from 55 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
In this latest edition of the database, the number of events and conferences on SRI topics has increased significantly from 96 (as of December 16, 2008) to 183. Particularly striking is the large (more than threefold) increase of SRI events in the United States from 18 to 58.
Also, in this edition of the database the number of companies that publish a stand-alone English-language Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report has increased from 248 to 330. Blue-chip companies from Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as well as CEE and SEE covered by the PFS Program’s regional surveys are included in this group. In addition, this group includes companies which distribute a CSR reports through Corporate Register. As of June 2009, data by Global Reporting Initiative indicates that over 1,000 companies worldwide publish a stand-alone English-language report on environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators.
This edition of the database documents ongoing growth in a variety of renewable energy initiatives. It includes: three awards (compared with one in the December 2008 edition); 16 companies (one); 30 conferences and events (eight), and nine NGOs (four). The 30 companies include both new market entrants and conventional/mainstream power companies with an increasing focus on sustainability.
The current edition of the database also includes all PFS Program partners engaged in corporate governance, CSR and/or SRI activities.
To download the database, please click on the link below:
Friday, May 8, 2009
PFS Program’s 12th Regional Survey – Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in 11 CEE Countries
Today, the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program publishes its 12th 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. PFS Program Intern Rafal Nagadowski (Poland) and PFS Program Research Assistant Igor Solodovnik conducted the survey from February 16 through April 15, 2009.
Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia were surveyed for the 12th time; companies in Hungary and Poland were surveyed for the 11th time; and companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania were surveyed for the tenth time. Moreover, a sixth analysis of peer companies (the ten largest listed companies by market capitalization) in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as well as Ukraine allows for ongoing benchmarking with these emerging market peers.
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. The surveys enable companies to benchmark their disclosure practices against peers on a national, industry and regional basis.
This survey analyzes companies’ disclosures in English (in the English-language annual report and on the English-language company website) during the time period February 16 – April 15, 2009 on the following three topics: corporate governance, environmental policy and social policy. The record date for the disclosures is April 15, 2009.
This edition of the survey documents a significant increase in the number of CEE blue chip companies issuing stand-alone English-language environmental, social and governance (ESG) reports; 41 companies now issue such a report, compared with 28 companies in September 2008. In marked contrast to all 11 of the previous surveys, disclosure of corporate governance information remained relatively stable whereas disclosure of environmental and social data increased, reflecting incremental increases in almost all countries. More companies provide information on supply chain management both in annual reports and on company websites, compared with the previous survey published in October 2008. Disclosure of information about compliance with labor standards, health and safety policy and listed employment policy also increased; here too the increase in disclosure in both annual reports and company websites was seen in companies in almost all countries.
In BRIC, 19 companies issued a stand-alone English-language ESG report in April 2009, compared with 17 in September 2008. In particular, there was more disclosure of information about compliance with a corporate governance code and employment policy. In other areas, disclosures remained roughly the same or decreased slightly. As a group, BRIC blue-chips generally outperform CEE peers; however, the gap continues to narrow and a few CEE countries approach the disclosure levels found in BRIC.
Survey findings include the following:
- 95% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed have an English-language website on the record date of April 15, 2009, compared with 96% in September 2008, 96% in April 2008, 94.5 % in September 2007, 94% in April 2007, 94% in September 2006, 87% in April 2006, 89% in September 2005 and 82% in April 2005. In comparison, 100% of the BRIC companies surveyed and 90% of the Ukrainian companies surveyed have an English-language website.
- 92% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed have either a 2008 or 2007 English-language annual report online on the record date of April 15, 2009 compared with 94% in September 2008, 93% in April 2008, 89% in September 2007, 85% in April 2007, 71% in September 2006, 78% in September 2005 and 65% in August 2004. In comparison, 100% of companies in BRIC and 30% in Ukraine have a 2008 or 2007 English-language annual report available online.
- 56% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed disclose information on employment policy in the annual report available online on April 15, 2009, compared with 27% in September 2008. 45% of the companies surveyed disclose this information on their website in April 2009; compared with 25% in September and April 2008.
- 55 of the 110 CEE companies surveyed (50%) disclose their health and safety policy in the (2007 or 2008) annual report available online on April 15, 2009, compared with 38 companies (35%) in September 2008. 41 of the companies surveyed (37.2%) disclose this information on the company website in April 2009, compared with 36% in September 2008.
- 45% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed disclose the information about labor standards in the annual report available online on April 15, 2009. This is a significant improvement compared with 19% in September 2008, 11% in April 2008, 9% in September 2007, 15% in April 2007 and 14% in September 2006. 32% of the companies surveyed disclose compliance with labor standards on their website in April 2008, whereas 22-23% of companies disclosed this information on the company website in September 2008, April 2008 and September 2007. In April 2007 only 15% of companies disclosed this information online.
- 41 of the 110 CEE companies surveyed (37%) publish an English-language stand-alone ESG report online on the record date of April 15, 2009. This is a significant improvement vis-à-vis 28 companies (26%) in September 2008.
- 21 of the 110 CEE companies surveyed (19%) disclose information on the integration of environmental considerations in supply chain management in the annual report available online on April 15, 2009, whereas on September 15 2008 only six (5%) did so. 33 of the companies surveyed (30%) disclose this information on their website in April 2009, compared with 15.4% in September 2008, 17% in April 2008, 16% in September 2007 and 26% in April 2007.
Note: The survey consists of the following documents: a report of the survey findings presenting 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 BRIC and Ukraine.
A list of companies with stand-alone English-language ESG reports is an appendix to the survey and is published as a separate document.
To download the survey, the databases and a separate list of companies that publish a stand-alone English-language ESG report, please click on the links below:
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
PFS Program’s 16th Regional Survey - Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Ten Largest Listed Companies in 11 CEE Countries
Today, the PFS Program publishes its 16th semi-annual regional survey: Investor Relations Online - Survey of Websites of the Ten Largest Listed Companies (by market capitalization) in 11 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. PFS Program Research Assistant Igor Solodovnik conducted the survey from January 15 through February 28, 2009.
In this edition of the survey, disclosure of detailed governance information decreased slightly in all categories surveyed. Thus, the positive trends observed in 2008 have not been sustained.
84% of the companies surveyed provide a list of management online, compared with 88% in August 2008 and 90% in February 2008. 61% of the companies surveyed provide additional information about management online, compared with 64% in August 2008 and 63% in February 2008. 85.5% of the companies surveyed provide a list of board members online, compared with 91% in August 2008 and 87% in February 2008. 56% of the companies surveyed provide additional information about board members online, compared with 61% in August 2008 and 52% in February 2008.
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Ten Largest Listed Companies in 11 CEE Countries analyzes the websites of the ten largest listed companies in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. For the sixth time, the survey also analyzes companies in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as Ukraine in order to compare the online disclosure practices of CEE listed companies with peers in other emerging markets.
The survey analyzes the English-language websites and annual reports of the ten largest listed companies in the above-mentioned CEE countries in order to document the current disclosure practices of this ‘blue-chip’ peer group. Although the market capitalization of companies changes over time, the semi-annual surveys represent a snapshot of disclosure practices of the blue-chip peer group on a given day twice a year. Since the definition of the survey universe has remained the same since the first survey, the surveys provide time-series data for CEE blue-chip companies and thus enable the identification of online disclosure trends as well as best practice within the peer group.
The survey provides current data as of February 15, 2009 and comparisons with the 15 previous surveys, conducted in August 2008, February 2008, August 2007, February 2007, August 2006, February 2006, August 2005, February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001.
The survey contains information compiled in the following groups and sub-groups:
- Current data on 110 companies in 11 CEE countries;
- Separate data on 80 companies in eight CEE countries that joined the European Union (EU) on May 1, 2004;
- Separate data on 30 companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania;
- Comparisons of the data from this current survey with data from the previous 15 conducted every August and February since August 2001; and
- Separate data on 40 companies in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as well as 10 companies in Ukraine.
Survey results include the following:
Websites: In ten of the 11 CEE countries surveyed, each of the ten largest listed companies has a local-language website. In Czech Republic eight of the ten companies surveyed have a local-language website. Each of the ten companies surveyed in Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia has an English-language website. 90% of the companies surveyed in Bulgaria and Estonia, 80% in Croatia and 70% in Romania have an English-language website.
Information on Management: As noted above, the percentage of companies surveyed that provide a list of management online decreased to 84% in February 2009, from 88% in August 2008 and 90% in February 2008. 61% of the companies surveyed provide additional information about management online. This represents a slight decrease from the August 2008 survey when 64% of the companies surveyed disclosed this information, the largest percentage recorded since the surveys began in 2001. 63% of the companies surveyed disclosed this information in February 2008, compared with 59% in August 2007 and 53% in February 2007.
Information on Board Members: 85% of the companies surveyed provide a list of board members online, compared with 91% in August 2008 and 87% in February 2008. 56% of the companies surveyed provide additional information about board members online, compared with 61% in August 2008 and 52% in February 2008.
Best Practice: Since 2004, the survey includes recommendations on the ideal corporate website and compares CEE companies with the parameters of this ideal. On February 16, 2009 52 of the 110 companies surveyed in CEE (47%) disclose information in all of the categories analyzed in the basic PFS Program survey: local-language website; English-language website; list of management; list of board members; additional information on management; and additional information on board members. These 52 companies were examined according to best practice parameters. (In August 2008 56 of the 110 companies surveyed (51%) disclosed the above-mentioned basic information.)
Comparisons with BRIC and Ukraine: The largest listed companies in BRIC also disclose slightly less information in this survey than in the previous survey. Companies in BRIC generally outperform peers in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004; however, in two categories (English-language website and list of supervisory board members) companies in the eight CEE countries outperform peers in BRIC. The Ukrainian companies surveyed disclose less information than their peers in both BRIC and CEE; however, a slight improvement was recorded vis-à-vis the previous survey.
- Each of the companies surveyed in BRIC (100%) has a local language website. In the CEE-11 countries, 98% of the companies surveyed have a local language website. (In ten of the 11 CEE countries surveyed, each of the 10 companies surveyed has a local language website. In Czech Republic, eight of the ten companies surveyed have a local language website.) In Ukraine, each of the ten companies surveyed has a local language website.
- 95% of the companies surveyed in BRIC have an English website, compared with 94% in CEE-11, 99% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 70% in Ukraine.
- 98% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide a list of management online, compared with 84% in the CEE-11, 86% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 40% in Ukraine.
- 87.5% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide additional information on management online, compared with 61% in the CEE-11, 67.5% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 20% in Ukraine.
- 90% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide a list of board members online, compared with 85.5% in the CEE-11, 91% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 40% in Ukraine.
- 85% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide additional information on board members online, compared with 56% in CEE-11, 65% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 20% in Ukraine.
To download the survey, a presentation of survey results and the company database, please click on the links below:
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Updated Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) – December 2008
From early November until mid-December 2008, PFS Program Intern Rajna Buncic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) updated the PFS Program’s Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI).
The initial database was published on this page of the PFS Program website on October 25, 2002. It contained contact information about more than 275 organizations whose SRI activities were reported online and/or in the financial press. The initial database divided the organizations among eight categories.
Since then, the database has been updated six times. A second edition of the database was published on February 16, 2005; it contained 726 organizations divided among ten categories. A third edition of the database was published on October 7, 2005; it contained 709 organizations divided among ten categories. A fourth edition of the database was published on July 27, 2007; it contained 793 organizations divided among ten categories. A fifth edition of the database was published on December 17, 2007; it contained 799 organizations divided among ten categories. A six edition of the database was published on August 1, 2008; it contained 854 organization divided among 11 categories.
This seventh edition of the database, with current information as of December 15, 2008, contains 920 organizations divided among the following 12 categories: Academia (35 institutions); Awards/Prizes (7); Companies/Listed Companies (248); Conferences and Events (96); Financial Institutions (129); Governmental Organizations (49); Indices (30); Media (57); Non-Governmental Organizations (187); Professional Associations (35); Public-Private Partnerships (1); and Rating/Research (46). It includes institutions from 49 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
This most recent edition of the database includes a new country filter that enables the user to search institutions by country. Other changes include the following: The name of the worksheet “Award” has been changed to “Awards and Prizes.” The name of the worksheet “Conferences” has been changed to “Conferences and Events.” A new worksheet entitled “Public-Private Partnerships” is added.
As noted in the sixth edition of the database published in August 2008, the number of conferences on SRI topics, the number of organizations providing SRI rating/research services and the number of professional associations addressing SRI issues has increased significantly during the past year.
In this seventh edition of the database there are 16 institutions promoting alternative and renewable energy development – one award/prize, one company, eight conferences, four NGOs, and two media. This illustrates the growing interest in SRI in the energy sector.
In addition to the institutions which were already recognized SRI leaders in 2002, the current edition of the database includes 66 new organizations, some of which are recently-established and others which have become known to the PFS Program over the past four months. The current edition also includes all PFS Program partners engaged in corporate governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and/or SRI initiatives as well those organizations included in the PFS Program’s distribution list. To download the database, please click on the link below:
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Pilot Macedonian Surveys Presented at a Roundtable in Skopje
Skopje, Macedonia
On Tuesday, December 9, 2008 the Macedonian Stock Exchange, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), USAID’s Business Environment Activity and the PFS Program organized a Roundtable to present two Pilot Surveys of the Largest Listed Companies in Macedonia: Investors Relations Online and Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
The pilot surveys were undertaken in response to a request from the Macedonia Stock Exchange with the aim of stimulating Macedonian listed companies to benchmark their disclosure practices (online and in the annual report) with peers in Macedonia, in neighboring SEE and CEE countries as well as emerging markets worldwide.
The two surveys were conducted in cooperation with and under the supervision of the PFS Program. They employ the same methodology used in the PFS Program’s regional surveys (ongoing since 2001) and country surveys conducted previously in Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (2001 – 2004); in Croatia (2005 – 2007); and in Bulgaria (2007).
Whereas the PFS Program’s regional surveys analyze information disclosed in English, the pilot Macedonian surveys analyze the disclosures of the 20 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in the Macedonian language.
The pilot surveys are part of an ongoing and multi-faceted PFS Program regional initiative dedicated towards improving the quality of financial and extra-financial reporting across SEE.
To download the Roundtable agenda, a presentation of the survey results (in Macedonian language only) and the two survey databases, please click on the links below:
Thursday, October 9, 2008
PFS Program’s 11th Regional Survey – Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
Today, the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program publishes its 11th 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. This edition of the survey was co-financed by DWS Investments (Deutsche Bank Group). PFS Program Assistant Magdalena Grabowska, PFS Program Intern Tomasz Pieczyk (Poland), PFS Program Intern Nikola Smolcic (Croatia) and PFS Program Research Assistant Igor Solodovnik conducted the survey from July 1 through September 30, 2008.
Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia were surveyed for the 11th time; companies in Hungary and Poland were surveyed for the tenth time; and companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania were surveyed for the ninth time. Moreover, a fifth analysis of peer companies (the ten largest listed companies by market capitalization) in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as well as Ukraine allows for ongoing benchmarking with these emerging market peers.
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. The surveys enable companies to benchmark their disclosure practices against peers on a national, industry and regional basis.
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 1 – September 15, 2008 on the following three topics: corporate governance, environmental policy and social policy. The record date for the disclosures is September 15, 2008.
This edition of the survey documents a higher level of online disclosure of corporate governance information, continuing the trend over the past five years. More information is also disclosed in the area of social policy, compared with the previous survey published in April 2008. Disclosure of information about environmental performance and environmental standards as well as energy and water use increased, albeit from still low levels; significant progress remains to be made by most companies in disclosing detailed environmental data.
Overall, companies in BRIC outperform CEE peers in terms of the availability of English-language websites and annual reports as well as specific disclosures in all three areas. For example, 80% of the BRIC companies surveyed disclose compliance with a corporate governance code in the annual report, compared with 54% in CEE. 65% of the BRIC companies surveyed disclose information about company-specific code of business conduct/code of ethics in the annual report, compared with 16% in CEE. In general, BRIC companies also provide more information on social policy and environmental policy. However, the gap in all three areas is narrowing. Due to the lack of a number of drivers, Ukrainian companies lag behind both BRIC and CEE peers in all areas. However, the number of Ukrainian companies with English-language annual reports and websites continues to increase as does the amount of information disclosed in all three categories.
Survey findings include the following:
- 96% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed have an English-language website on the record date of September 15, 2008, compared with 96% in April 2008, 94.5 % in September 2007, 94% in April 2007, 94% in September 2006, 87% in April 2006, 89% in September 2005 and 82% in April 2005. In comparison, 100% of the BRIC companies surveyed and 70% of the Ukrainian companies surveyed have an English-language website.
- 94% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed have a 2006/2007 English-language annual report online on the record date of September 15, 2008 compared with 100% in BRIC and 30% in Ukraine.
- 71% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed disclose information on employee development/benefits in their annual reports available online. This is a significant increase over the 64% recorded in the previous four surveys.
- Nine Polish, eight Slovene, eight Hungarian, six Estonian, five Czech, four Latvian, three Bulgarian companies, one Croatian, one Lithuanian and one Romanian company disclose information regarding compliance with a corporate governance code on the company website. Ten Estonian, nine Slovene, seven Polish, seven Czech, seven Lithuanian, six Slovak, five Bulgarian, four Hungarian, three Croatian and two Romanian companies disclose this information in the annual report. This is the first time since the survey was first conducted that more than 50% of the CEE companies surveyed disclose information regarding compliance with a corporate governance code in the annual report.
- 36% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed disclose information on listed health and safety policy on their website as of September 15, 2008, compared with 32% in April 2008, 30% in September 2007, 26% in April 2007, 21% in September 2006 and 12% in April 2006.
- 34% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed disclose information on environmental performance in annual reports available on their website on September 15, 2008 compared with 30% in April 2008, 33% in September 2007, 13% in April 2007, 25% in September 2006 and 18% in April 2006, 22% in September 2005, 24% in April 2005 and 27% in August 2004.
- 28 of the 110 CEE companies surveyed (26%) publish a stand-alone English-language ESG report as of September 15, 2008. (This represents the same percentage as in the most recent survey, conducted in April 2008.) Of the 28 reports published in CEE on the current record day, 25 (89%) use recognized standards and eight (28%) include a third-party assurance statement. A list of companies that publish a stand-alone environmental, social and governance (ESG) report online in English may be found as a separate document below.
- 17 of the 40 BRIC companies surveyed (42.5%) publish a stand-alone English-language ESG report. Of the 17 reports published in BRIC, 15 (88%) use recognized standards and ten (59%) provide a third-party assurance. No Ukrainian company produces such a report as of the record date of September 15, 2008.
Note: The survey consists of the three following documents: a report of the survey findings presenting 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 BRIC and Ukraine.
To download the survey, the database and a separate list of companies that publish an English-language stand-alone ESG report, please click on the links below:
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Updated Database of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Funds
From June through August 2008, PFS Program Assistant Magdalena Grabowska compiled the PFS Program’s updated Database of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Funds. PFS Program Intern Nikola Smolcic (Croatia) assisted with this project in July 2008.
This is the second time the PFS Program has compiled a database of SRI funds. This updated database includes information about 574 SRI funds, current as of the end of August 2008. It updates and expands the first Database of SRI Funds published by the PFS Program in February 2005. The first database included information about 478 SRI funds.
The database includes information obtained from public sources online. It is meant to complement databases compiled and research conducted by other institutions. For example, Eurosif publishes a European SRI study; the most recent edition will be published on October 1, 2008. Avanzi SRI Research and SiRi Company conduct an annual survey entitled, “Green, Social and Ethical Funds in Europe.” These publications, as well as information distributed by Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and other institutions, document a significant increase in the number of SRI funds launched during the past two years. Also, the assets under management in SRI funds has grown considerably during the same time period.
To download the database, please click on the link below:
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
PFS Program’s 15th Regional Survey - Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
Today, the PFS Program publishes its 15th semi-annual Survey of Online Investor Relations of the Ten Largest Listed Companies (by market capitalization) in eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries.” PFS Program Assistant Magdalena Grabowska and PFS Program Intern Nikola Smolcic (Croatia) conducted the survey from July 1 through August 31, 2008.
In this edition of the survey, disclosure of detailed govenance information in almost all categories remains at or reaches its highest level since the first survey was conducted in August 2001. This trend has been observed since February 2006 and may be viewed as sustainable.
91% of the companies surveyed provide a list of board members online, compared with 87% in February 2008, 82% in August 2007 and 81% in February 2007 as well as August 2006. This is the largest percentage recorded since the first survey and the first time that more than 90% of the companies surveyed provide a list of board members online. 61% of the companies surveyed provide additional information about board members online. This is also the largest percentage recorded since the first survey and the first time that more than 60% of the companies surveyed provide this information online. It represents a significant increase over the most recent survey (52% in August 2007) and previous surveys (51% in August 2007 and 40% in February 2007).
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE analyzes the websites of the ten largest listed companies in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. For the fifth time, the survey also analyzes companies in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as Ukraine in order to compare the online disclosure practices of CEE listed companies with peers in other emerging markets.
The survey analyzes the English-language websites and annual reports of the ten largest listed companies in the above-mentioned CEE countries in order to document the current disclosure practices of this ‘blue-chip’ peer group. Although the market capitalization of companies changes over time, the semi-annual surveys represent a snapshot of disclosure practices of the blue-chip peer group on a given day twice a year. Since the definition of the survey universe has remained the same since the first survey, the surveys provide time-series data for CEE blue-chip companies and thus enable the identification of online disclosure trends as well as best practice within the peer group.
The survey provides current data as of August 15, 2008 and comparisons with the 14 previous surveys, conducted in February 2008, August 2007, February 2007, August 2006, February 2006, August 2005, February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001.
Survey results include the following:
Websites: In ten of the 11 CEE countries surveyed, each of the ten largest listed companies has a local-language website. In Czech Republic eight of the ten companies surveyed have a local-language website. Each of the ten companies surveyed in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia has an English-language website. 80% of the companies surveyed in Croatia and 70% in Romania have an English-language website.
Information on Management: 88% of the companies surveyed provide a list of management online; 64.5% provide additional information on management. Disclosure in the former category decreased slightly (2%) since the last survey whereas the latter represents a record high since the first survey was conducted and a slight increase vis-à-vis February 2008 (63%) and August 2007 (59%).
Information on Board Members: 91% of the companies surveyed provide a list of board members online and 61% provide additional information on board members. Each category increased to a higher new record since the first survey was conducted and to new thresholds above 90% and 60% respectively. Disclosure in the latter category represents a significant increase from 52% in February 2008, 51% in August 2007, 40% in February 2007, 36% in August 2006 and 41% in February 2006.
Best Practice: Since 2004, the survey includes recommendations on the ideal corporate website and compares CEE companies with the parameters of this ideal. This component of the survey identifies best practice and enables CEE companies to benchmark their disclosure against peers in the region, other emerging markets and industry best practice. Here also, the time-series data identifies online disclosure trends.
On August 15, 2008 56 of the 110 companies surveyed in CEE (51%) disclose information in all of the categories analyzed in the basic PFS Program survey: local-language website; English-language website; list of management; list of board members; additional information on management; and additional information on board members. This is the first survey in which over 50% of the companies surveyed provide all of the basic information analyzed. On February 15, 2008 51 of the 110 companies surveyed in CEE (46%) disclosed information in all of the basic categories analyzed in the survey. On August 15, 2007 47 of the 110 CEE companies surveyed (43%) disclosed information in all of the basic categories analyzed in the survey. Therefore, over the past year a slight improvement has been documented in each edition of the survey.
Comparisons with BRIC and Ukraine: The largest listed companies in BRIC equal or outperform their CEE peers in every category. However, the gap continues to narrow. Furthermore, when companies in BRIC are compared with peers in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004, the difference between the peer groups is much smaller. The Ukrainian companies surveyed disclose less information than their peers in both BRIC and CEE; however, improvements are discernible over time. Detailed comparisons include the following:
- Each of the companies surveyed in BRIC has a local language website. In ten of the 11 CEE countries surveyed, each of the companies surveyed has a local language website. In Czech Republic, eight of the ten companies surveyed have a local language website. In Ukraine, nine of the ten companies surveyed have a local language website.
- In BRIC, all of the companies surveyed have an English website, compared with 95.5% in CEE-11, 100% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 70% in Ukraine.
- 97.5% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide a list of management online, compared with 88% in the CEE-11 and 91% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004. In Ukraine 40% of the companies surveyed provide a list of management online.
- 87.5% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide additional information on management online, compared with 64.5% in the CEE-11, 70% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 50% in Ukraine.
- All of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide a list of board members online, compared with 91% in the CEE-11, 97.5% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 30% in Ukraine.
- 95% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide additional information on board members online, compared with 61% in CEE-11, 70% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 10% in Ukraine.
The survey contains information compiled in the following groups and sub-groups:
- Current data on 110 companies in eleven CEE countries;
- Separate data on 80 companies in eight CEE countries that joined the European Union (EU) on May 1, 2004;
- Separate data on 30 companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania;
- Comparisons of the data from this current survey with data from the previous 14 conducted every August and February since August 2001; and
- Separate data on 40 companies in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as well as 10 companies in Ukraine.
To download the survey, a presentation of survey results and the company database, please click on the links below:
Friday, August 1, 2008
Updated Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) – July 2008
From mid-January until mid-July 2008, PFS Program Assistant Magdalena Grabowska updated the PFS Program’s Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI).
The initial database was published on this page of the PFS Program website on October 25, 2002. It contained contact information about more than 275 organizations whose SRI activities were reported online and/or in the financial press. The initial database divided the organizations among eight categories.
Since then, the database has been updated five times. A second edition of the database was published on February 16, 2005; it contained 726 organizations divided among ten categories. A third edition of the database was published on October 7, 2005; it contained 709 organizations divided among ten categories. A fourth edition of the database was published on July 27, 2007; it contained 793 organizations divided among ten categories. A fifth edition of the database was published on December 17, 2007; it contained 799 organizations divided among ten categories.
This sixth edition of the database, with current information as of July 31, 2008, contains 854 organizations divided among the following 11 categories: Academia (35 institutions); Awards (3); Companies/Listed Companies (245); Conferences (65); Financial Institutions (127); Governmental Organizations (49); Indices (27); Media (52); Non-Governmental Organizations (177); Professional Associations (33); and Rating/Research (41). It includes institutions from 49 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
This most recent edition of the database includes for the first time a new category entitled Awards. As noted in the fifth edition of the database published in December 2007, the number of conferences on SRI topics, the number of organizations providing SRI rating/research services and the number of professional associations addressing SRI issues increased significantly during the second half of 2007. All three trends continued during the first half of 2008.
In addition to the institutions which were already recognized SRI leaders in 2002, the current edition of the database includes 55 new organizations, some of which are recently-established and others which have become known to the PFS Program over the past six months. The current edition includes all PFS Program partners engaged in corporate governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and/or SRI initiatives as well those organizations included in the PFS Program’s distribution list. To download the database, please click on the link below:
Thursday, May 8, 2008
PFS Program’s tenth Regional Survey – Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
Today, the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program publishes its tenth 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. This edition of the survey was co-financed by DWS Investments (Deutsche Bank Group). PFS Program Intern Dominik Grodzki (Poland), PFS Program Assistant Magdalena Grabowska and PFS Program Research Assistant Igor Solodovnik conducted the survey from March 1 through April 30, 2008.
Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia were surveyed for the tenth time; companies in Hungary and Poland were surveyed for the ninth time; and companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania were surveyed for the eighth time. Moreover, a fourth analysis of peer companies (the ten largest listed companies by market capitalization) in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as well as Ukraine allows for ongoing benchmarking with these emerging market peers.
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. The surveys enable companies to benchmark their disclosure practices against peers on a national, industry and regional basis.
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 2008 on the following three topics: corporate governance, environmental policy and social policy. The record date for the disclosures is April 15, 2008.
This edition of the survey documents a generally higher level of online disclosure of corporate governance information, continuing the trend over the past five years. Slightly more information is also disclosed in the area of social policy, compared with the previous survey published in September 2007. Disclosure of information about environmental policy has increased on company websites; however, significant progress remains to be made in disclosing information on environmental policy in the annual report.
Overall, companies in BRIC outperform CEE peers in terms of the availability of English-language websites and annual reports as well as specific disclosures in all three areas. In the field of corporate governance, the most significant difference concerns disclosure of information regarding compliance with a corporate governance code and a company-specific code of business conduct/code of ethics in both the website and annual report. In general, BRIC companies also provide more information on social policy and environmental policy. Due to the lack of a number of drivers, Ukrainian companies lag behind both BRIC and CEE peers in all areas. However, the number of Ukrainian companies with English-language websites has increased steadily over the past two years.
29 of the 110 CEE companies surveyed (26%) provide a stand-alone environmental, social and governance (ESG) report online in English on the record date of April 15, 2008. This represents a significant improvement over the most recent survey and continuation of an ongoing trend: 22 of the companies surveyed (20%) published such a report in September 2007, compared with 19 companies (17%) in April 2007 and 17 companies (15%) in September 2006. A list of companies that publish a stand-alone environmental, social and governance (ESG) report online in English may be found as a separate document below.
Survey findings include the following:
• 96% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed have an English-language website on the record date of April 15, 2008, compared with 94.5 % in September 2007, 94% in April 2007, 94% in September 2006, 87% in April 2006, 89% in September 2005 and 82% in April 2005. In comparison, 100% of the BRIC companies surveyed and 70% of the Ukrainian companies surveyed have an English-language website.
• 87% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed have a 2006/2007 English-language annual report online on the record date of April 15, 2008 compared with 100% in BRIC and 30% in Ukraine.
• Nine Slovene, eight Polish, eight Hungarian, seven Estonian, four Bulgarian, four Czech, four Latvian companies, one Croatian, one Lithuanian and one Romanian company disclose information regarding compliance with a corporate governance code on the company website. Nine Slovene, eight Estonian, seven Polish, six Czech, six Lithuanian, four Croatian, four Hungarian, three Bulgarian, three Slovak, two Romanian and one Latvian company disclose this information in the annual report.
• 64% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed disclose information on employee development/benefits on their website. This result has remained constant at 64% for the past four surveys.
• 24% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed disclose information on energy and water use on their website, compared with 17% in September 2007, 17% in April 2007, 21% in September 2006, 18% in April 2006, 20% in September 2005, 20% in April 2005 and 23% in August 2004.
• 29 of the 110 CEE companies surveyed (26%) publish a stand-alone English-language ESG report as of April 15, 2008. Of the 29 reports published in CEE, 27 (93%) use recognized standards and eight (28%) include a third-party assurance statement.
• 17 of the 40 BRIC companies surveyed (42.5%) publish a stand-alone English-language ESG report. Of the 17 reports published in BRIC, 14 (82%) use recognized standards and ten (59%) provide a third-party assurance. No Ukrainian company produces such a report as of the record date of April 15, 2008.
Note: The survey consists of the three following documents: a report of the survey findings presenting 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 BRIC and Ukraine. This edition of the survey includes a newly-designed and more user-friendly database which lists the companies surveyd in the first spreadsheet, entitled, „Table of Contents (LOC).”
To download the survey, the database and a separate list of companies that publish an English-language stand-alone ESG report, please click on the links below:
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
PFS Program’s 14th Regional Survey - Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
Today, the PFS Program publishes its 14th semi-annual Survey of Online Investor Relations of the Ten Largest Listed Companies (by market capitalization) in eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. PFS Program Assistant Magdalena Grabowska and PFS Program Intern Lukasz Gilewicz conducted the survey from February 1 through February 29, 2008.
In this edition of the survey, disclosure in almost all categories remains at or reaches its highest level since the first survey was conducted in August 2001. This trend has been observed since February 2006 and may be viewed as sustainable. This edition of the survey documents an ongoing increase in disclosure of detailed governance information.
90% of the companies surveyed provide a list of management online, compared with 86% in August 2007. This is the largest percentage recorded since the surveys began in 2001. 63% of the companies surveyed provide additional information about management online, compared with 59% in August 2007 and 53% in February 2007. This is also the largest percentage recorded since the surveys began in 2001.
87% of the companies surveyed provide a list of board members online and 52% provide additional information on board members. The former category increased to a new record since the first survey was conducted, from 82% in August 2007. Disclosure in the latter category also reached a new record, posting a slight increase from 51% in August 2007 and a significant increase over 40% in February 2007.
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE analyzes the websites of the ten largest listed companies in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. For the fourth time, the survey also analyzes companies in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as Ukraine in order to compare the online disclosure practices of CEE listed companies with peers in other emerging markets.
The survey analyzes the English-language websites and annual reports of the ten largest listed companies in the above-mentioned CEE countries in order to document the current disclosure practices of this ‘blue-chip’ peer group. Although the market capitalization of companies changes over time, the semi-annual surveys represent a snapshot of disclosure practices of the blue-chip peer group on a given day twice a year. Since the definition of the survey universe has remained the same since the first survey, the surveys provide time-series data for CEE blue-chip companies and thus enable the identification of online disclosure trends as well as best practice within the peer group.
The survey provides current data as of February 15, 2008 and comparisons with the 13 previous surveys, conducted in August 2007, February 2007, August 2006, February 2006, August 2005, February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001.
Since 2004, the survey includes recommendations on the ideal corporate website and compares CEE companies with the parameters of this ideal. This component of the survey identifies best practice and enables CEE companies to benchmark their disclosure against peers in the region, other emerging markets and industry best practice. Here also, the time-series data identifies online disclosure trends.
Survey results include the following:
Websites: In nine of the 11 CEE countries surveyed, each of the ten largest listed companies has a local-language website on February 15, 2008. In Bulgaria and Lithuania, nine of the ten companies surveyed have a local-language website. In the previous survey, 109 companies surveyed had a local-language website. One of the ten Bulgarian companies surveyed did not have a local-language website.
94.5% of the companies surveyed have an English-language website; the percentage increased from 93% in August 2007.
Information on Management: 90% of the companies surveyed provide a list of management online; 63% provide additional information on management. As noted above, in each category the results represent a new record high since the first survey was conducted in 2001.
Information on Board Members: 87% of the companies surveyed provide a list of board members online and 52% provide additional information on board members. The former category increased to a new record since the first survey was conducted, from 82% in August 2007. Disclosure in the latter category also reached a new record, posting a slight increase from 51% in August 2007 and a significant increase over 40% in February 2007.
Comparisons with BRIC and Ukraine: The largest listed companies in BRIC equal or outperform their CEE peers in every category. However, the gap continues to narrow. Furthermore, when companies in BRIC are compared with peers in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004, the difference between the peer groups is much smaller. The Ukrainian companies surveyed disclose less information than their peers in both BRIC and CEE. However, the disclosures made by the Ukrainian companies improved vis-à-vis the previous survey. Detailed comparisons include the following:
- Each of the companies surveyed in BRIC has a local language website. In nine of the 11 CEE countries surveyed, each of the companies surveyed has a local language website. In Bulgaria and Lithuania, nine of the ten companies surveyed have a local language website. In Ukraine, nine of the ten companies surveyed have a local language website.
- 100% of the companies surveyed in BRIC have an English website, compared with 94.5% in CEE-11, 99% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 70% in Ukraine.
- 100% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide a list of management online, compared with 90% in the CEE-11 and 94% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004. In Ukraine 30% of the companies surveyed provide a list of management online.
- 87.5% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide additional information on management online, compared with 63% in the CEE-11, 71% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 20% in Ukraine.
- 100% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide a list of board members online, compared with 87% in the CEE-11, 91% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 20% in Ukraine.
- 87.5% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide additional information on board members online, compared with 52% in CEE-11, 64% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 10% in Ukraine.
The survey contains information compiled in the following groups and sub-groups:
- Current data on 110 companies in eleven CEE countries;
- Separate data on 80 companies in eight CEE countries that joined the European Union (EU) on May 1, 2004;
- Separate data on 30 companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania;
- Comparisons of the data from this current survey with data from the previous 13 surveys conducted every August and February since August 2001; and
- Separate data on 50 companies in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as well as Ukraine.
To download the survey, a presentation of survey results and the company database, please click on the links below:
Monday, December 17, 2007
Updated Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) – December 2007
From mid-November until mid-December 2007, PFS Program Assistant Magdalena Grabowska updated the PFS Program’s Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI).
The initial database was published on this page of the PFS Program website on October 25, 2002. It contained contact information about more than 275 organizations whose SRI activities were reported online and/or in the financial press. The initial database divided the organizations among eight categories.
Thereafter, the database was updated four times. A second edition of the database was published on February 16, 2005; it contained 726 organizations divided among ten categories. A third edition of the database was published on October 7, 2005; it contained 709 organizations divided among ten categories. A fourth edition of the database was published on June 2007; it contained 793 organizations divided among ten categories.
This fifth edition of the database, with current information as of December 17, 2007, contains 799 organizations divided among the following ten categories: Academia (35 institutions), Companies/Listed Companies (244), Conferences (38), Financial Institutions (126), Governmental Organizations (49), Indices (6), Media (51), Non-Governmental Organizations (177), Professional Associations (33) and Rating/Research (40). It includes institutions from 48 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
The large number of organizations included in the current database demonstrates that a growing number of institutions are engaged in SRI. For example, the number of conferences has doubled since the first database was compiled. Also, the number of organizations providing rating/research services has increased significantly. In addition, a growing number of professional associations now address SRI issues.
In addition to the institutions who were already recognized SRI leaders in 2002, the current edition of the database includes many new organizations, some of which are recently-established and others which have become known to the PFS Program over the past three years. The current edition includes all PFS Program partners engaged in corporate governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and/or SRI initiatives as well those organizations included in the PFS Program’s distribution list. To download the database, please click on the link below:
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
PFS Program’s ninth Regional Survey – Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
Today, the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program publishes its ninth 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. This edition of the survey was co-financed by DWS Investments (Deutsche Bank Group). PFS Program Interns Martin Masse (Canada), Ivan Sentevski (Serbia) and Emilia Swiatczak (Poland) as well as PFS Program Assistant Magdalena Grabowska conducted the survey from August through October 2007. Additional co-financing for the Canadian intern was provided by MBAs Without Borders, whose mission is to contribute to the business and social development of transition economies through work rotations of MBA professionals.
Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia were surveyed for the ninth time; companies in Hungary and Poland were surveyed for the eighth time; and companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania were surveyed for the seventh time. Moreover, a third-time analysis of peer companies (the ten largest listed companies by market capitalization) in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as well as Ukraine allows for benchmarking with these emerging market peers for the third time.
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. The surveys enable companies to benchmark their disclosure practices against peers on a national, industry and regional basis.
This survey analyzes companies’ disclosures in English (in the English-language annual report and on the English-language company website) during the time period August - September 2007 on the following three topics: corporate governance, environmental policy and social policy. The record date for the disclosures is September 15, 2007.
This edition of the survey documents a generally higher level of online disclosure of corporate governance information, continuing the trend over the past four years. Slightly more information is also disclosed in the area of social policy, compared with the previous survey published in May 2007. Significant progress remains to be made in disclosing information on environmental policy.
Overall, companies in BRIC outperform CEE peers in terms of the availability of English-language websites and annual reports as well as specific disclosures in all three areas. With regards to corporate governance, the most significant difference concerns compliance with a corporate governance code and disclosure of a code of business conduct/code of ethics in both the website and annual report. In general, BRIC companies also provide more information on social policy and environmental policy. Due to the lack of a number of drivers, Ukrainian companies lag behind both BRIC and CEE peers in all areas
22 of the 110 CEE companies surveyed (20%) provide a stand-alone environmental, social and governance (ESG) report online in English on the record date of September 15, 2007. This demonstrates continuation of an ongoing trend: 19 of the 110 companies surveyed (17%) published such a report in April 2007, compared with 17 companies (15%) in September 2006.
Survey findings include the following:
• 94.5% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed have an English-language website on the record date of September 15, 2007, compared with 94% in April 2007, 94% in September 2006, 87% in April 2006, 89% in September 2005 and 82% in April 2005. In comparison, 97.5% of the BRIC companies surveyed and 60% of the Ukrainian companies surveyed have an English-language website.
• 82% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed have a 2006 English-language annual report online on the same record date of September 15, 2007 compared with 90% in BRIC and 20% in Ukraine.
• Nine Polish, eight Slovene, six Hungarian, five Estonian, four Czech and four Latvian companies disclose information regarding compliance with a corporate governance code on the company website. Eight Polish, eight Slovene, seven Lithuanian, six Estonian, five Czech and four Hungarian companies disclose this information in the annual report.
• 33% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed disclose information on environmental performance on their website, compared with 20% in April 2007, 28% in September 2006, 19% in April 2006, 29% in September 2005, 26% in April 2005 and 24% in August 2004.
• 53% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed disclose information on sponsorships on their website, compared with 44% in April 2007, 44% in September 2006, 37% in April 2006, 47% in September 2005, 37% in April 2005 and 33% in August 2004.
• 22 of the 110 CEE companies surveyed (20%) publish a stand-alone English-language ESG report as of September 15, 2007. Of the 22 reports published in CEE, 20 (91%) use recognized standards and seven (32%) provide a third-party assurance statement.
• 15 of the 40 BRIC companies surveyed (38%) publish a stand-alone English-language ESG report. Of the 15 reports published in BRIC, 14 (93%) use recognized standards and nine (60) % provide a third-party assurance. No Ukrainian company produces such a report as of the record date of September 15, 2007.
Note: The survey consists of the three following documents: a report of the survey findings presenting 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 BRIC and Ukraine.
To download the survey and the two company databases, please click on the links below:
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Inaugural Bulgarian Surveys: Investor Relations Online and Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the 40 Largest Listed Companies in Bulgaria
Sofia, Bulgaria
On Tuesday, September 25, 2007 the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Sofia published two inaugural Bulgarian surveys: “Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the 40 Largest Listed Companies in Bulgaria” and “Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the 40 Largest Listed Companies in Bulgaria.”
The surveys were co-financed by a PFS Program Grant and are part of an ongoing regional initiative launched by the PFS Program in 2001. The methodology employed in each of the surveys was developed by the PFS Program. It is applied in the PFS Program’s eponymous semi-annual regional surveys and in country studies conducted by local research institutes in Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (2001 – 2007).
Both surveys were conducted during the time period March – June 2007 and analyzed the 40 largest listed companies on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) – Sofia according to their market capitalization as of March 1, 2007. The companies surveyed represented 83% of the market capitalization on the BSE – Sofia on that date. The record date for disclosures was June 15, 2007.
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the 40 Largest Listed Companies in Bulgaria analyzes the information disclosed on the Bulgarian and English versions of each company’s website. Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the 40 Largest Listed Companies in Bulgaria analyzes companies’ disclosures in Bulgarian and English (in each company’s annual report and website) in three areas: corporate governance, environmental policy and social policy.
Findings of Investor Relations Online – 2007 include the following:
• 77% of the companies surveyed have a Bulgarian-language website whereas 75% have an English-language website.
• 52% of the companies surveyed disclose management names and 33.3% provide management team biographical information in Bulgarian. 45% of the companies surveyed disclose management names in English.
• 52% of the companies surveyed disclose supervisory board names in Bulgarian whereas 45% disclose supervisory board names in English.
• 40% of the companies surveyed provide a 2006 annual report online in Bulgarian whereas 25% provide a 2006 annual report online in English.
• 22% of the companies surveyed disclose information about share price in Bulgarian whereas 15% do so in English.
Findings of the Survey of Reporting on CSR – 2007 include the following:
• General: 75% of the companies surveyed disclose information in Bulgarian or in English in at least one component of all three categories.
• Corporate Governance: 72% of the companies surveyed disclose information in at least one of the five components of the corporate governance section in the Bulgarian/English annual report or website. Of these, 97% report on the corporate governance structure; 69% disclose audit related information and 55% disclose information about the company’s shareholder rights’ policy.
• Environmental Policy: 27% of the companies surveyed disclose information in at least one of the five different components of the environmental policy section in the Bulgarian/English annual report or website. Of these, 73% report on compliance with industry specific, national/international regulations.
• Social Policy: 42% of the companies surveyed present information in at least one of the five components of the social policy section in the Bulgarian/English annual report or website. Of these, 59% disclose information about employee development and employee benefits policies whereas 41% disclose information on community patronage-sponsorship programs.
Each survey comprises: a database, including a spreadsheet for each company and data aggregated for all 40 companies; and a publication of the survey results, in Bulgarian and in English. To download these documents, please click on the links below:
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
PFS Program’s 13th Regional Survey - Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
Today, the PFS Program publishes its 13th semi-annual Survey of Online Investor Relations of the Ten Largest Listed Companies (by market capitalization) in eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. PFS Program Assistant Magdalena Grabowska and PFS Program Intern Dagmara Lubczynska conducted the survey from July 2 through September 3, 2007.
In this edition of the survey, disclosure in almost all categories remains at or reaches its highest level since the first survey was conducted in August 2001. This trend has been observed since February 2006 and may be viewed as sustainable. In particular, this edition of the survey documents a dramatic increase in disclosure of detailed governance information. 59% of the companies surveyed provide additional information about management online, compared with 53% in February 2007 and 45% in August 2006. This is the largest percentage recorded since the surveys began in 2001. Furthermore, 51% of the companies surveyed provide additional information about board members online. This is also the largest percentage recorded since the first survey and represents a significant increase over previous surveys: 40% in February 2007 and 37% in August 2006.
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE analyzes the websites of the ten largest listed companies in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. For the third time, the survey also analyzes companies in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as Ukraine in order to compare the online disclosure practices of CEE listed companies with peers in other emerging markets.
The survey analyzes the English-language websites and annual reports of the ten largest listed companies in the above-mentioned CEE countries in order to document the current disclosure practices of this ‘blue-chip’ peer group. Although the market capitalization of companies changes over time, the semi-annual surveys represent a snapshot of disclosure practices of the blue-chip peer group on a given day twice a year. Since the definition of the survey universe has remained the same since the first survey, the surveys provide time-series data for CEE blue-chip companies and thus enable the identification of online disclosure trends as well as best practice within the peer group.
The survey provides current data as of August 15, 2007 and comparisons with the 12 previous surveys, conducted in February 2007, August 2006, February 2006, August 2005, February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001.
Since 2004, the survey includes recommendations on the ideal corporate website and compares CEE companies with the parameters of this ideal. This component of the survey identifies best practice and enables CEE companies to benchmark their disclosure against peers in the region, other emerging markets and industry best practice. Here also, the time-series data identifies online disclosure trends.
Survey results include the following:
Websites: In ten of the 11 CEE countries surveyed, each of the ten largest listed companies has a local-language website on August 15, 2007. In Bulgaria, nine of the ten companies surveyed have a local-language website. In the previous two surveys, each of the 110 CEE companies surveyed had a local-language website on the record date. 93% of the companies surveyed have an English-language website; the percentage has remained constant for the past 18 months.
Information on Management: 86% of the companies surveyed provide a list of management online; 59% provide additional information on management. Disclosure in the former category increased slightly (4%) since the last survey whereas the latter represents a record high since the first survey was conducted and a significant increase vis-à-vis February 2007 (53%) and August 2006 (45%).
Information on Board Members: 82% of the companies surveyed provide a list of board members online and 51% provide additional information on board members. The former category increased to a slightly higher new record since the first survey was conducted, from 81% in February 2007. Disclosure in the latter category also represents a new record high and a significant increase from 40% in February 2007, 36% in August 2006 and 41% in February 2006.
Comparisons with BRIC and Ukraine: The largest listed companies in BRIC equal or outperform their CEE peers in every category. However, the gap continues to narrow. Furthermore, when companies in BRIC are compared with peers in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004, the difference between the peer groups is much smaller. The Ukrainian companies surveyed disclose less information than their peers in both BRIC and CEE. Detailed comparisons include the following:
- Each of the companies surveyed in BRIC has a local language website. In ten of the 11 CEE countries surveyed, each of the companies surveyed has a local language website. In Bulgaria, nine of the ten companies surveyed have a local language website. In Ukraine, seven of the ten companies surveyed have a local language website.
- 98% of the companies surveyed in BRIC have an English website, compared with 93% in CEE-11, 99% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 60% in Ukraine.
- 95% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide a list of management online, compared with 86% in the CEE-11 and 92% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004. In Ukraine 40% of the companies surveyed provide a list of management online.
- 90% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide additional information on management online, compared with 59% in the CEE-11, 71% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 30% in Ukraine.
- 95% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide a list of board members online, compared with 82% in the CEE-11, 87% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 30% in Ukraine.
- 93% of the companies surveyed in BRIC provide additional information on board members online, compared with 51% in CEE-11, 64% in the eight CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 20% in Ukraine.
The survey contains information compiled in the following groups and sub-groups:
- Current data on 110 companies in eleven CEE countries;
- Separate data on 80 companies in eight CEE countries that joined the European Union (EU) on May 1, 2004;
- Separate data on 30 companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania;
- Comparisons of the data from this current survey with data from the previous 12 conducted every August and February since August 2001; and
- Separate data on 50 companies in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as well as Ukraine.
To download the survey, a presentation of survey results and the company database, please click on the links below:
Friday, July 27, 2007
Updated Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) – July 2007
From mid-May until mid-June 2007, PFS Program intern Jan Sloniewski updated the PFS Program’s Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI).
The initial database was published on this page of the PFS Program website on October 25, 2002. It contained contact information about more than 275 organizations whose SRI activities were reported online and/or in the financial press. The initial database divided the organizations among eight categories.
Thereafter, the database was updated twice. A second edition of the database was published on February 16, 2005; it contained 726 organizations divided among ten categories. A third edition of the database was published on October 7, 2005; it contained 709 organizations divided among ten categories.
This fourth edition of the database, with current information as of June 2007, contains 793 organizations divided among the following ten categories: Academia (35 institutions), Companies/Listed Companies (243), Conferences (32), Financial Institutions (128), Governmental Organizations (49), Indices (6), Media (51), Non-Governmental Organizations (176), Professional Associations (33) and Rating/Research (40). It includes institutions from 45 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
The large number of organizations included in the current database demonstrates that a growing number of institutions are engaged in SRI. For example, the number of conferences has doubled since the first database was compiled. Also, the number of organizations providing rating/research services has increased significantly. In addition, a growing number of professional associations now address SRI issues.
In addition to the institutions who were already recognized SRI leaders in 2002, the current edition of the database includes many new organizations, some of which are recently-established and others which have become known to the PFS Program over the past three years. The current edition includes all PFS Program partners engaged in corporate governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and/or SRI initiatives as well those organizations included in the PFS Program’s distribution list. To download the database, please click on the link below:
Monday, May 7, 2007
PFS Program’s eighth Regional Survey – Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
Today, the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program publishes its eighth 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. This edition of the survey was co-financed by DWS Investments (Deutsche Bank Group). PFS Program Interns Magdalena Grabowska and Wojciech Stec as well as PFS Program Research Assistant Igor Solodovnik conducted the survey from March through May 2007.
Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia were surveyed for the eighth time; companies in Hungary and Poland were surveyed for the seventh time; and companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania were surveyed for the sixth time. Moreover, a second-time analysis of peer companies (the ten largest listed companies by market capitalization) in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as well as Ukraine allows for benchmarking with these emerging market peers for the second time.
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. The surveys enable companies to benchmark their disclosure practices against peers on a national, industry and regional basis.
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 2007 on the following three topics: corporate governance, environmental policy and social policy. The record date for the disclosures is April 15, 2007.
In Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland all 10 of the companies surveyed in each country have an English-language website. 94% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed have an English-language website. 85% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed have either a 2004, 2005 or 2006 English-language annual report online by April 15, 2007. (Comparison of disclosures in annual reports is not as relevant in the spring edition of this semi-annual survey, since as of April 15 many companies have not yet published their 2005 annual report online.) In general, companies in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia disclose the most information online.
This eighth semi-annual regional survey demonstrates a generally similar level of disclosure on company websites to that observed during the past four 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 or social policy. Also, corporate governance codes continue to significantly impact reporting on corporate governance issues in certain countries. Several companies now issue separate/stand-alone reports on environmental, social and/or governance (ESG) issues. Of the 110 CEE companies surveyed, 19 (17%) have an English-language ESG report available online on April 15, 2007. This represents a significant increase (21%) since September 2006, when only 15% of the companies surveyed published such a report. In comparison, five Chinese, four Russian, four Brazilian and two Indian companies have English-language ESG reports available online.
Survey findings include the following:
• 94% of the CEE companies surveyed have an English-language website on the record date of April 15, 2007 compared with 94% in September 2006, 87% in April 2006, 89% in September 2005 and 81% in April 2005. In contrast, 100% of the surveyed companies in BRIC and 60% of the Ukrainian companies surveyed have an English-language website.
• Nine Polish, seven Czech and seven Slovene companies disclose implementation of a corporate governance code in their annual report.
• 69% of the CEE companies surveyed disclose information on their governance structure in the company's annual report, compared with 75% in September 2006, 62% in April 2006 and 68% in September 2005. 88% of the BRIC companies surveyed and 20% of the Ukrainian companies surveyed provide this information.
• 65% of the CEE companies surveyed disclose employee benefits or development policies in the (2004, 2005 or 2006) annual report currently available online, compared with 64% in September 2006, 42% in April 2006, 48% in September 2005, 37% in April 2005 and 42% in August 2004.
• 49% of the CEE companies surveyed disclose information on compliance with environmental standards on their website, compared with 45% in September 2006, 37% in April 2006, 48% in September 2005, 41% in April 2005 and 37% in August 2004.
• 26% of the CEE companies surveyed report on supply chain management on their website; this is the highest percentage recorded since the first survey conducted in summer 2003. In September 2006, only 10% of the companies surveyed provided this information online.
Note: The survey consists of the three following documents: a report of the survey findings presenting 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 BRIC and Ukraine.
To download the survey and the two company databases, please click on the links below:
Monday, March 12, 2007
Third Annual Croatian Surveys: Investor Relations Online of Leading Croatian Companies - 2006 and Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by Leading Croatian Companies - 2006
Zagreb, Croatia
On Monday, March 12, 2007 the Zagreb School of Economics and Management published the third annual edition of two research surveys: Investor Relations Online of Leading Croatian Companies - 2006; and Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (SR) by Leading Croatian Companies - 2006.
The surveys were co-financed by a PFS Program Grant and are part of a wider regional initiative implemented by the PFS Program. Each survey was conducted employing the same methodology used in the two eponymous PFS Program regional surveys conducted semi-annually since 2001 and in country surveys conducted by research institutes in Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland in 2001-2004. In 2007, surveys will be conducted for the first time in Bulgaria.
The third annual edition of Investor Relations Online was conducted in winter 2006/2007. It investigates Croatian- and English-language information available on the websites of 43 leading Croatian companies.
The second annual edition of the Survey of Reporting on CSR by Leading Croatian Companies was also conducted in winter 2006/2007. It investigates Croatian-language information available in the 2004 annual reports, prospectuses and websites of 43 leading Croatian companies.
The sample of 43 leading Croatian public or “public nature” companies represents 82% of overall market capitalization and 66% of overall turnover on the Croatian stock market.
The main conclusions of Investor Relations Online - 2006 are:
• The trend is positive, for a third year in a row.
• A small number of companies stand out: These companies exemplify best practice.
• Improvement is also visible in the middle of the peer group. An increasing number of companies have entered the middle ground, representing a discernible improvement over the previous two annual surveys.
• 74% of companies surveyed provide a list of management board members online. More than half of the companies surveyed provide annual financial statements online.
• Compared with peers in other Central and Eastern European (CEE) companies, Croatian companies lag behind. However, the gap is diminishing.
The main conclusions of Reporting on CSR – 2006 are:
• On average, companies provide most information in the area of social policy, as opposed to environmental policy or corporate governance.
• Regarding corporate governance, most companies still report only the bare essentials. However, more companies provide information on management and board members than previously.
• Environmental policy reporting improved slightly from a low base.
• In CSR reporting, a few top companies shine above the others. A handful of Croatian companies publish stand-alone reports on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues. More companies reference Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards.
• In comparison with peers in other CEE countries, again, Croatian companies lag behind. However, in this field also, the gap is diminishing.
To download the database and English-language publication regarding each of the surveys, please click on the links below:
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Presentation of Third Annual Croatian Surveys: Investor Relations Online of Leading Croatian Companies – 2006 and Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by Leading Croatian Companies - 2006
Zagreb, Croatia
On Wednesday, March 7, 2007 the Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM) organized a press conference to present the third annual editions of two research surveys: Investor Relations Online of Leading Croatian Companies - 2006; and Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (SR) by Leading Croatian Companies - 2006. The surveys were co-financed by a PFS Program Grant and conducted employing the same methodology used in the PFS Program regional surveys (ongoing since 2001) and country surveys conducted in Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (2001 – 2004). In 2007, surveys will be conducted for the first time in Bulgaria. Please note that the survey publications may be found under an entry dated March 12, 2007 on the Capital Markets Research page of the PFS Program website and ZSEM’s website.
59 persons attended the conference. The breakdown was as follows: the Deputy Director of Economic Policy Institute, Sofia, Bulgaria; 57 persons representing Croatian business associations, consulting firms, educational institutions, financial institutions, listed companies, media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and research institutions; and a representative of Responsible Business Initiative, Serbia.
To download the conference agenda, presentations and the list of partisipants please click on the links below:
Monday, March 5, 2007
PFS Program’s 12th Regional Survey - Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
Today, the PFS Program publishes its 12th semi-annual Survey of Online Investor Relations of the Ten Largest Listed Companies (by market capitalization) in eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. PFS Program Manager Agnieszka Cenzartowicz, PFS Program Research Assistant Igor Solodovnik and Catherine Sykes, East-West Management Institute (EWMI) New York conducted the survey from January 2 through March 2, 2007.
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE analyzes the websites of the ten largest listed companies in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. For the second time, the survey provides comparisons with BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and Ukraine in order to compare online disclosure practices with peers in other emerging markets.
This survey analyzes the English-language websites and annual reports of the 10 largest listed companies in the aforementioned CEE countries in order to document the current disclosure practices of this ‘blue-chip’ peer group. Although the market capitalization of companies changes over time, these semi-annual surveys represent a snapshot of disclosure practices of the blue-chip peer group on a given day twice a year. Since the definition of the survey universe has remained the same since the first survey, the surveys provide time-series data for CEE blue-chip companies and thus enable the identification of online disclosure trends.
The survey provides current data as of February 15, 2007 and comparisons with the 11 previous surveys, published in August 2006, February 2006, August 2005, February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001.
In this survey, disclosure in almost all categories remained at or reached its highest level since the first survey was conducted in August 2001. This trend has been observed since February 2006 and may be viewed as sustainable. As of February 15, 2007 all companies surveyed in all 11 countries have a local language website. A large majority have an English-language website: including all 10 companies in surveyed in Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. However, while basic information about management and boards is now generally available online, detailed information is still lacking in many markets.
Beginning in 2004, the survey includes recommendations on the ideal corporate website and compares CEE companies to this ideal. This component of the survey is designed to help identify best practice and enables CEE companies to benchmark their disclosure against peers in the region against other emerging markets and against industry best practice according to standardized parameters. Here also, the time-series data permits identification of trends.
Survey results include the following:
• Websites: Each of the 110 CEE companies surveyed has a local-language website. This is the third consecutive time since the first survey was conducted in August 2001 that each CEE company surveyed has a local-language website. 94% of the companies surveyed have an English-language website; the percentage has remained constant for the past 18 months.
• Information on Management: 82% of the companies surveyed provide a list of management online; 53% provide additional information on management. The former category decreased slightly (5%) whereas the later increased significantly (15%) vis-à-vis August 2006.
• Information on Board Members: 81% of the companies surveyed provide a list of board members online, whereas 40% provide additional information on their board members. The former category remained at the highest level reported since the first survey and the latter increased 7.5% to a level comparable to the highest level reported (41% in February 2006).
• Comparisons with BRIC and Ukraine: On average, the largest listed companies in the BRIC countries equal or outperform their CEE peers in every category. However, in several categories the difference is minimal. In Ukraine, in contrast, the companies surveyed disclose less information in English than their peers in both BRIC and CEE.
The PFS Program surveys analyze the websites of the ten largest listed companies in the above-mentioned eleven 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 ongoing surveys represent a snapshot of this peer group’s disclosure practices on a given day twice a year and thereby provide insights into blue-chip companies’ corporate governance and investor relations practices. The surveys enable companies to benchmark their disclosure practices against peers on a national, industry and regional basis.
Comparative survey findings include the following:
• Each of the 40 companies surveyed in BRIC and each of the 110 CEE companies has a local-language website. In Ukraine, seven out of ten companies have a local-language website.
• 100% of the 40 companies surveyed in BRIC, 94% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed and 50% of the companies surveyed in Ukraine have an English-language website.
• 95% of the 40 companies surveyed in BRIC, 82% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed and 40% of the companies surveyed in Ukraine provide a list of management online.
• 78% of the 40 companies surveyed in BRIC, 53% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed and 30% of the companies surveyed in Ukraine provide additional information on management online.
• 92% of the 40 companies surveyed in BRIC, 81% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed and 20% of the companies surveyed in Ukraine provide a list of board members online.
• 70% of the 40 companies surveyed in BRIC, 40% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed and 20% of the companies surveyed in Ukraine provide additional information on board members online.
This survey presents data aggregated in the following groupings to enable different types of comparison:
• Combined data on the 10 largest-listed companies in each of the 11 CEE countries;
• Separate data on the eight new member states of the EU admitted on May 1, 2004;
• Separate data on Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania;
• Comparisons of the data from the current survey with data from the previous 11 surveys conducted since August 2001; and
• Separate data on Brazil, Russia India, China (BRIC) and Ukraine.
To download the survey, a presentation of survey results and the two company databases, please click on the links below:
Thursday, February 22, 2007
PFS Program Grant to Zagreb School of Economics & Management (ZSEM)
Zagreb, Croatia
On Thursday, February 22, 2007 the PFS Program awarded a PFS Program Grant to Zagreb School of Economics & Management (ZSEM) to conduct third annual editions of two surveys: “Online Investor Relations: Survey of Websites of Leading Croatian Companies - 2006” and “Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility by Leading Croatian Companies - 2006.”
The PFS Program conducts in-house two regional surveys of the 10 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in 11 CEE countries. The inaugural edition of Investor Relations Online was published on August 1, 2001. Since then it is conducted semi-annually: it is published in early March and early September each year. The inaugural edition of Reporting on CSR was published on September 4, 2003. Since then it is conducted semi-annually: it is published in early May and early October each year.
The above-mentioned regional surveys analyze disclosure practices of CEE blue chip companies. In order to better understand the disclosure practices of a wider range of CEE listed companies, the PFS Program provides grants to local research institutes in CEE and SEE to co-finance surveys of a wider universe of companies in the respective country. To date, the PFS Program has co-financed country surveys in Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. In 2007, a first set of Bulgarian surveys will be conducted by Economics Policy Institute (EPI), Sofia, Bulgaria.
The Croatian surveys which ZSEM conducted in 2005 and 2006 were widely covered by the financial media in Croatia and several on-line publications. The 2007 surveys will be completed in February and presented at a conference at ZSEM in early March 2007. The surveys will be published on the websites of ZSEM and the PFS Program in mid-March 2007.
Monday, February 5, 2007
PFS Program Grant to Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Sofia, Bulgaria
On Monday, February 5, 2007 the PFS Program awarded a PFS Program Grant to Economic Policy Institute, Sofia, Bulgaria to conduct two surveys: “Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Forty Largest Listed Companies in Bulgaria” and “Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Forty Largest Listed Companies in Bulgaria.”
The PFS Program conducts in-house two regional surveys of the 10 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in 11 CEE countries. The inaugural edition of Investor Relations Online was published on August 1, 2001. Since then it is conducted semi-annually: it is published in early March and early September each year. The inaugural edition of Reporting on CSR was published on September 4, 2003. Since then it is conducted semi-annually: it is published in early May and early October each year.
The above-mentioned regional surveys analyze disclosure practices of CEE blue chip companies. In order to better understand the disclosure practices of a wider range of CEE companies, the PFS Program provides grants to local research institutes in CEE and SEE to co-finance surveys of a wider universe of companies in the respective country. To date, the PFS Program has co-financed country surveys in Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Now, the first set of Bulgarian country surveys will be undertaken.
The Bulgarian surveys will be conducted during the time period February – April 2007. The completed surveys will be published on the websites of EPI and the PFS Program in May 2007.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
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 BRIC and Ukraine
Today, the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program publishes its seventh 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. This edition of the survey was co-financed by DWS Investments (Deutsche Bank Group). DWS Investments provided funding for PFS Program interns Dana Krechowicz (Canada) and Plamena Spassova (Bulgaria), who conducted the survey together with PFS Program Research Assistant Michal Slawinski from August 14 through September 30, 2006. Additional co-financing for the Canadian intern was provided by MBAs Without Borders.
Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia were surveyed for the seventh time; companies in Hungary and Poland were surveyed for the sixth time; and companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania were surveyed for the fifth time. Moreover, an inaugural analysis of peer companies (the ten largest listed companies by market capitalization) in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) as well as Ukraine allows for benchmarking with these emerging market peers for the first time.
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. The surveys enable companies to benchmark their disclosure practices against peers on a national, industry and regional basis.
This survey analyzes companies’ disclosures in English (in the English-language annual report and on the English-language company website) during the time period August – September 2006 on the following three topics: corporate governance, environmental policy and social policy. The record date for the disclosures is September 15, 2006.
In Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia all 10 of the companies surveyed in each country have an English-language website. 94% of the 110 CEE companies surveyed have an English-language website. 71% of the 100 CEE companies surveyed had released their 2005 annual report online by September 15, 2006. In general, companies in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia disclose the most information online.
This seventh semi-annual regional survey demonstrates 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 or social policy. Also, corporate governance codes continue to significantly impact reporting on corporate governance issues in certain countries. Several companies now issue separate/stand-alone reports on environmental, social and/or governance (ESG) issues. Of the 110 CEE companies surveyed, 14 (13%) have English-language ESG reports available online on September 15, 2006. Five companies (4.5%) produce the report in accordance with recognized standards, such as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. Five Brazilian companies, four Russian companies, two Indian companies and two Chinese companies have English-language ESG reports available online. In comparison, a July 2006 research survey conducted by Social Investment Research Analysts Network noted that 34 S&P 100 companies (34%) produce an ESG report in compliance with GRI guidelines.
Survey findings include the following:
• 94% of the CEE companies surveyed have an English-language website on the record date of September 15, 2006 compared with 87% in April 2006, 89% in September 2005 and 81% in April 2005. In contrast, 100% of the surveyed companies in BRIC and 50% of the Ukrainian companies surveyed have an English-language website.
• 71% of the CEE companies surveyed have an English-language 2005 annual report available online on the record date of September 15, 2006 compared with 78% on September 15, 2005 and 65% on August 15, 2004.
• Nine Slovene, eight Polish, six Czech and six Hungarian companies disclose implementation of a corporate governance code in their annual report.
• 75% of the CEE companies surveyed disclose information on their governance structure in the company's annual report, compared with 62% in April 2006 and 68% in September 2005. 45% of the BRIC companies surveyed and 20% of the Ukrainian companies surveyed provide this information.
• 64% of the CEE companies surveyed disclose employee benefits or development policies in the (2003, 2004 or 2005) annual report currently available online, compared with 42% in April 2006, 48% in September 2005, 37% in April 2005 and 42% in August 2004
• 45% of the CEE companies surveyed disclose information on compliance with environmental standards on their website, compared with 37% in April 2006, 48% in September 2005, 41% in April 2005 and 37% in August 2004.
• 25% of the CEE companies surveyed report on environmental performance in their annual report, compared with 48% of the BRIC companies surveyed.
Note: The survey consists of the following documents: a report of the survey findings presenting 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 BRIC and Ukraine.
To download the survey and the background databases, please click on the links below:
Friday, September 8, 2006
PFS Program’s Eleventh Regional Survey - Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
Today, the PFS Program publishes its eleventh semi-annual survey of online investor relations of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. PFS Program Interns Harald Lang and Sergei Leonov as well as PFS Program Research Assistant Michal Slawinski conducted the survey from June through August 2006.
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE analyzes the websites of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia for the tenth time and in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania for the fifth time. The survey provides current data as of August 15, 2006 and comparisons with the ten previous surveys, published in February 2006, August 2005, February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001. Moreover, the survey includes for the first time an analysis of the websites of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as Ukraine.
Overall, online disclosure by CEE listed companies increased since the last survey. In all categories surveyed but two, disclosure remained at or reached the highest level recorded since the survey was first conducted in August 2001. This suggests that the high levels of disclosure in most categories are sustainable. Only in two categories were declines observed; however, one of these was insignificant (1%). Improvement remains to be made in online disclosure of additional information about management and board members.
Survey results include the following:
• All of the CEE companies surveyed have a local-language website. This is the second consecutive time since the first survey was conducted in August 2001 that all CEE companies surveyed have a local-language website.
• 93% of the CEE companies surveyed have an English website compared with 94% in February 2006.
• 86% of the CEE companies surveyed provide a list of management online; this is the highest percentage recorded since the first survey. 81% of companies provided this information in February 2006 compared with 78% in August 2005. 45% of companies provide additional information on management online, the same percentage as in February 2006.
• 81% of the CEE companies surveyed provide a list of board members online; this is also the highest percentage recorded since the first survey. 75% of companies provided this information in February 2006 compared with 69% in August 2005. 37% of companies provide additional information on board members online, compared with 41% in February 2006 and 29% in August 2005.
• Not surprisingly, when analyzed separately the eight new Member States of the European Union outperform the eleven CEE countries (eight new EU Member States plus Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania) in all categories surveyed. Nevertheless, online disclosure also improved in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania since the last survey.
The PFS Program surveys analyze the websites of the ten largest listed companies in the above-mentioned eleven 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 ongoing surveys represent a snapshot of this peer group’s disclosure practices on a given day twice a year and thereby provide insights into blue-chip companies’ corporate governance and investor relations practices. The surveys enable companies to benchmark their disclosure practices against peers on a national, industry and regional basis.
This first-time survey of the largest listed companies in BRIC and Ukraine also allows the CEE companies to benchmark against peers in other emerging markets. On average, the largest listed companies in the BRIC countries equal or outperform their CEE peers in every category, although in several categories the difference is minimal. Comparative survey findings include the following:
• All of the companies surveyed in BRIC and in the eleven CEE countries have a local-language website, whereas in Ukraine nine out of ten companies have a local-language website.
• 100% of the companies surveyed in BRIC, 93% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries and 40% of the companies surveyed in Ukraine have an English-language website.
• 87% of companies surveyed in BRIC, 86% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries and 30% of the companies surveyed in Ukraine provide a list of management online.
• 73% of the companies surveyed in BRIC, 46% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries and 10% of the companies surveyed in Ukraine provide additional information on management online.
• 90% of the companies surveyed in BRIC, 81% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries and 20% of the companies surveyed in Ukraine provide a list of board members online.
• 60% of the companies surveyed in BRIC, 37% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries and 10% of the companies surveyed in Ukraine provide additional information on board members online.
Note: The survey, consisting of databases of results by company and a presentation of the results by country, contains the following information: current data as of August 15, 2006 on companies in all eleven CEE countries; comparisons of the data from August 2006 with data from the ten previous surveys conducted in February 2006, August 2005, February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001; and separate data as of August 15, 2006 on companies in BRIC and Ukraine.
To download the survey and the background databases, please click on the links below:
Friday, May 5, 2006
PFS Program’s Sixth Semi-Annual Regional Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
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.
The PFS Program’s seventh regional survey, to be conducted in September 2006, will compare in greater detail disclosure in annual reports with disclosures made in September 2005. It will also continue analyze reporting on company websites and compare the results with the previous surveys. For the second time, the survey will track the number of CEE countries that publish stand-alone ESG reports in English.
The September 2006 edition of the survey will include a first-time comparison with the largest listed companies in the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – with the aim of comparing CEE listed companies’ reporting with that of peers in other emerging markets.
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.
To download the survey and the background databases, please click on the links below:
Thursday, March 9, 2006
Second Annual Croatian Surveys: Investor Relations Online of Leading Croatian Companies - 2005 and Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by Leading Croatian Companies - 2005
Zagreb, Croatia
On Thursday, March 9, 2006 the Zagreb School of Economics and Management published the second annual edition of two research surveys: Investor Relations Online of Leading Croatian Companies - 2005; and Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (SR) by Leading Croatian Companies - 2005.
The surveys were co-financed by a PFS Program Grant and are part of a wider regional initiative organized by the PFS Program. Each survey was conducted employing the same methodology used in the PFS Program regional surveys conducted semi-annually since 2001 and in country surveys conducted in Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland in 2001-2004.
The second annual edition of Investor Relations Online was conducted in autumn 2005. It investigates Croatian- and English-language information available on the websites of 48 leading Croatian companies.
The second annual edition of the Survey of Reporting on CSR by Leading Croatian Companies was also conducted in autumn 2005. It investigates Croatian-language information available in the 2004 annual reports, prospectuses and websites of 48 leading Croatian companies.
The companies included in the 2005 surveys account for 81% of the total market capitalization and 66% of the total turnover on the two Croatian stock exchanges, Varazdin Stock Exchange and Zagreb Stock Exchange.
The main conclusions of Investor Relations Online - 2005 are:
• The trend is positive: Overall, companies are making better use of their websites as an investor relations tool.
• A small number of companies stand out: These top companies exemplify good practices.
• There is still plenty of room for improvement: About half of the companies still do not provide the basic information which potential investors need.
• Compared with peers in other Central and Eastern European (CEE) companies, Croatian companies still lag.
The main conclusions of Reporting on CSR – 2005 are:
• On average, companies provide most information in the area of social policy, as opposed to environmental policy or corporate governance.
• Regarding corporate governance, most companies still report only the bare essentials.
• Environmental policy reporting improved slightly from a low base.
• In CSR reporting, a few top companies shine above the others.
• In comparison with peers in other CEE countries, again, Croatia still lags.
Survey findings include the following:
• A high percentage (92%) of companies has a local-language website. 83% of the firms have websites in English.
• Fifty-six percent of companies provide a list of the names of their management, up from 53% last year.
• The number of companies providing background information on management increased from 9% last year to 21% this year. This is a significant improvement.
• Only 33% of companies provided the names of their supervisory board members and only 7% disclosed any type of additional information on them.
• Only 42% of the companies provided their annual financial reports on their websites. However, this represents a slight increase from 40% last year.
• In CSR reporting, 38% of companies disclose their corporate sponsorships and donations whereas 13% of companies disclose the level of their energy and water use.
To download the surveys, in Croatian and in English, and three English-language publications of the survey results, please click on the links below:
Thursday, March 2, 2006
PFS Program’s Tenth Regional Survey - Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
Today, the PFS Program publishes its tenth semi-annual survey of online investor relations of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. PFS Program intern Pawel Dziedzic conducted the survey in February 2006.
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE analyzes the websites of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in Czech Republic Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia for the tenth time and in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania for the fourth time. The survey provides current data as of February 15, 2006 and comparisons with the nine previous surveys, published in August 2005, February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001. Moreover, the survey includes for the first time an analysis of the websites of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in Portugal and Spain.
The survey demonstrates that online disclosure by CEE listed companies has improved since the last survey, conducted in August 2005. In particular, the number of companies with local-language and English-language websites has increased to the highest levels recorded since the PFS Program launched its surveys in August 2001. In February 2006, all of the companies surveyed have a local-language website. This is the first time since August 2001 that the PFS Program has observed existence of a local-language website at each of the companies surveyed. Also, the number of companies that provide additional information on supervisory board members (which is traditionally the category with the poorest survey results) increased significantly.
Survey results include the following:
• In February 2006, all of the CEE companies surveyed have a local-language website. As noted above, this is the first time that all CEE companies surveyed have a local-language website since the first survey was conducted in August 2001. In August 2005, 97% of the companies surveyed had a local-language website.
• In February 2006, 94% of the CEE companies surveyed have an English-language website. This is also the highest percentage recorded since the first survey. In August 2005, 87% of the companies surveyed had an English-language website. . Now, in one country, seven of the ten companies surveyed have an English-language website; in four countries, nine of the ten companies surveyed have an English-language website; and in six countries, all ten companies have an English-language website. This represents an improvement since the last survey. In August 2005, in two countries, seven of the ten companies surveyed had an English-language website; in two countries, eight of the ten companies surveyed had an English-language website; in four countries, nine of the ten companies surveyed had an English-language website; and in three countries, all ten companies surveyed had and English-language website.
The PFS Program surveys analyze the websites of the ten largest listed companies in the above-mentioned eleven 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 ongoing surveys represent a snapshot of this peer group’s disclosure practices on a given day twice a year and thereby provide insights into blue-chip companies’ corporate governance and investor relations practices.
A comparison of the results of the tenth survey of the largest listed companies in eleven CEE countries and the first survey of peers in Portugal and Spain includes the following:
• All of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries and in Portugal and Spain have a local-language website;
• 94% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries (and 97.5% of the companies surveyed in the eight new member states of the European Union [EU]) have an English-language website, compared with 90% in Portugal and 100% in Spain;
• 81% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries provide a list of management online compared with 90% in Portugal and 100% in Spain;
• 46% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries provide additional information on management online compared with 90% in Portugal and 100% in Spain;
• 76% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries provide a list of board members online compared with 90% in Portugal and 100% in Spain; and
• 41% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries provide additional information on board members online compared with 90% in Portugal and 100% in Spain.
The first-time survey of Portugal and Spain enables the comparison of the disclosure practices of the CEE blue-chip peer group with peers in the EU.
Note: The survey, consisting of databases of results by company and a presentation of the results by country, contains the following information: current data as of February 15, 2006 on companies in all eleven CEE countries; comparisons of the data from February 2006 with data from the previous surveys conducted in August 2005, February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001; and separate data as of February 15, 2006 on companies in Portugal and Spain.
To download the survey and the background databases, please click on the links below:
Monday, January 9, 2006
PFS Program Grant to Zagreb School of Economics & Management
The PFS Program awarded a PFS Program Grant to Zagreb School of Economics & Management to conduct a second annual version of two surveys: “Online Investor Relations: Survey of Websites of Listed Companies in Croatia” and “Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility by Listed Companies in Croatia.” The surveys will be completed in January 2006 and published on the websites of ZSEM as well as the PFS Program in February 2006.
Friday, October 7, 2005
Updated Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) – October 2005
In mid-September 2005, PFS Program intern Janis Oskajs undertook a research project to update the PFS Program’s Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI).
The initial database was published on this page of the PFS Program website on October 25, 2002. It contained contact information about more than 275 organizations engaged in SRI. That database divided the organizations among eight categories. The database was updated in autumn 2004 and the second edition of the database was published on this page of the PFS Program website in February 2005; the second edition contained 726 organizations divided among ten categories.
This third edition of the database, with current information as of September 2005, contains 709 organizations divided among the following ten categories: Academia (32 institutions), Companies/Listed Companies (260), Conferences (16), Financial Institutions (124), Governmental Organizations (51), Indices (6), Media (31 organizations), Non-Governmental Organizations (160), Professional Associations (3), and Rating/Research (26 organizations). The database includes institutions from 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.
To download the database, please click on the link below:
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
PFS Program’s Fifth Semi-Annual Regional Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
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).
Note: The survey consists of a presentation of data aggregated by country and two separate databases of individual data by company - one database for the ten largest listed companies in each of the 11 CEE countries and a separate database for the ten largest listed companies in Greece as well as Turkey.
To download the survey and the background databases, please click on the links below:
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
PFS Program’s Ninth Regional Survey - Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven CEE Countries
Today, the PFS Program publishes its ninth semi-annual survey of online investor relations of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. PFS Program interns Joanna Karnat and Tomasz Zych conducted the survey in July and August 2005.
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE analyses the websites of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in Czech Republic Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia for the ninth time and in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania for the third time. The survey provides current data as of August 15, 2005 and comparisons with the eight previous surveys, published in February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001. Moreover, in response to a request from the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges, a first survey of websites of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in Greece and Turkey is also published.
The survey demonstrates that online disclosure in CEE has improved since the last survey, conducted in February 2005. In particular, the number of companies with local-language and English-language websites has increased to the highest levels recorded since the PFS Program began its surveys in August 2001.
Survey results include the following:
· In August 2005, 97% of the CEE companies surveyed have a local-language website. This is the highest percentage recorded since the first survey, conducted in August 2001. In February 2005, 95% of the companies surveyed had a local-language website.
· In August 2005, 87% of the CEE companies surveyed have an English-language website. This is also the highest percentage recorded since the first survey. In February 2005, 82% of the companies surveyed had an English-language website. Furthermore, there has been improvement in the underperformers; now, in each of the 11 countries at least 7 of the 10 companies surveyed have an English-language website. In February 2005, in two countries only 6 of the 10 companies surveyed had an English-language website.
The PFS Program surveys analyze the websites of the ten largest listed companies in the above-mentioned eleven 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 ongoing surveys represent a snapshot of this peer group’s disclosure practices on a given day twice a year and thereby provide insights into blue-chip companies’ corporate governance and investor relations practices.
A comparison of the results of the ninth survey of the eleven CEE countries and the first survey of Greece and Turkey includes the following:
· 97% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries have a local-language website compared with 90% in Greece and 90% in Turkey;
· 87% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries have an English-language website compared with 90% in Greece and 90% in Turkey;
· 78% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries provide a list of management online compared with 70% in Greece and 70% in Turkey;
· 40% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries provide additional information on management online compared with 50% in Greece and 50% in Turkey;
· 69% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries provide a list of board members online compared with 90% in Greece and 80% in Turkey; and
· 29% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries provide additional information on board members online compared with 60% in Greece and 50% in Turkey.
The first-time survey of Greece and Turkey enables the comparison of the disclosure practices of the CEE blue-chip peer group with peers in neighboring countries, one an EU member state and the other a neighboring emerging market.
Note: The survey, consisting of databases of results by company and a presentation of the results by country, contains the following information: current data on companies in all eleven CEE countries; separate data on companies in the Eight New Member States of the European Union (EU); separate data on companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania; comparisons of the data from August 2005 with data from the previous surveys conducted in February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001; and separate data on companies in Greece and Turkey.
To download the survey and the background databases, please click on the links below:
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Fourth Semi-Annual Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in Central and Eastern Europe
Budapest, Hungary
Today, the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program publishes its fourth semi-annual Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the 10 Largest Listed Companies (by market capitalization) in eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia were surveyed for the fourth time; companies in Hungary and Poland were surveyed for the third time; and companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania were surveyed for the second time.
The survey was conducted by PFS Program interns Szymon Gawel, Monika Sowinska and Dominika Sipowicz.
The survey analyzes companies’ disclosures in English on the English-language company website and in the English-language annual report during April 2005. It documents a generally similar level of disclosure on company websites to that observed in August 2004 across all three information categories analyzed – corporate governance, environmental policy and social policy. However, in certain countries, availability of English-language websites has increased. Also, corporate governance codes significantly impact reporting on corporate governance issues in certain countries.
In Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia all 10 of the companies surveyed have an English-language website; however, companies in Latvia and Lithuania generally did not disclose information on all three categories surveyed. In Hungary, nine of the 10 companies have an English-language website. In general, companies in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia disclosed the most information online. The level of disclosure decreased in Bulgaria and Romania, perhaps due to the fact that due to changes in market capitalization the universe of companies surveyed changed significantly. Approximately half of the companies in each country were surveyed for the first time. By contrast, the level of disclosure improved in Croatia.
Survey findings include the following:
· 83% of the companies surveyed have an English language website (compared with 86% in August 2004 and 85% in April 2003);
· 71% of the companies surveyed disclose information about their governance structure on their websites (compared with 69% in August 2004 and 50% in April 2004);
· 41% of the companies surveyed mention compliance with environmental standards on their websites (compared with 37% in August 2004 and 28% in April 2004);
· 37% of the companies surveyed disclose information about sponsorships on their websites (compared with 28% in August 2004 and 31% in April 2004); and
· 20% of the companies surveyed note compliance with a corporate governance code on their websites (whereas in August 2004 the percentage was 7%).
Comparisons with disclosure in annual reports is not as relevant in this survey, since as of April 15, 2005 many companies have not yet published their 2004 annual report online. However, it should be noted that Estonia is the clear exception in the region. By April 15, 2005 each 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 four surveys to date, all 10 Estonian companies provided electronic versions of their annual report online. This was not the case in any of the other 10 countries.
The fifth survey, to be published in August 2005, will compare disclosure in annual reports with disclosures made in August 2004. It will also continue to track trends in reporting on company websites.
To download the background database and the survey, please click on the links below:
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE
PFS Program Intern Szymon Gawel conducted the PFS Program’s eighth semi-annual survey of online investor relations of the 10 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. In addition to Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia this survey includes Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania for the second time.
The survey demonstrates slightly improved online disclosure by the largest listed companies in the eight new member states of the European Union (EU) and slightly poorer yet generally stable second time survey results in the three EU-accession countries.
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE analyses the websites of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in each of the following CEE countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The survey provides current data as of February 21, 2005 and comparisons with the seven previous surveys, published in August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001.
As in the most recent survey, the percentage of companies with a local-language website remains at 95%. In August 2004, 95% of the companies surveyed had a website.
In February 2005, 82% of the companies surveyed have an English-language website, in comparison with 84% in August 2004.
When taken as a group of eleven countries, the results in all categories surveyed remained relatively stable. However, when analyzing the eight new member states of the European Union (EU) separately, a slightly improved disclosure policy can be observed.
Survey findings of the eight new member states of the EU include the following:
97% of the companies surveyed have a local language website (compared with 95% in August 2004);
87% have an English-language website (compared with 84% in August 2004);
80% provide a list of management online (compared with 84% in August 2004);
43% provide additional information on management online (compared with 38% in August 2004);
70% provide a list of board members online (compared with 70% in August 2004); and
29% provide additional information on board members online (compared with 23% in August 2004).
Three of the 110 companies surveyed provide information about the number of shares owned by each member of management and the supervisory board.
The findings of this second survey of companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania show a slight decease in online disclosure in comparison with August 2004; however, in general the thresholds are rather stable.
The PFS Program hopes that the surveys represent an ongoing contribution towards independent research in these eleven CEE countries. A research paper produced by the working group Independent Research Think Tank and published on February 11, 2005 called for more independent research in the EU. George Möller, chief executive of Robeco, and leader of the working group, opines, “Independent research is an important element in the maintenance of integrity in the marketplace, as it offers investors a neutral analysis of a company’s prospects.”
To download the survey and the background database, please click on the links below:
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Croatian Surveys: Investor Relations Online of Leading Croatian Companies and Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by Leading Croatian Companies
Zagreb, Croatia
On Tuesday, February 22, 2005 the Zagreb School of Economics and Management published two research surveys: Investor Relations Online of Leading Croatian Companies; and Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (SR) by Leading Croatian Companies.
The surveys were co-financed by a PFS Program Grant and are part of a wider regional initiative organized by the PFS Program. Each survey was conducted using the same methodology used in the PFS Program regional surveys conducted semi-annually since 2001 and in country surveys conducted in Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland in 2001-2004.
The Survey – Investor Relations Online was conducted in autumn 2004. It investigates Croatian- and English-language information available on the websites of 43 leading Croatian companies.
The Survey of Reporting on CSR by Leading Croatian Companies was also conducted in autumn 2004. It investigates Croatian-language information available in the 2003 annual reports, prospectuses and websites of 43 leading Croatian companies.
The companies surveyed include: all companies with bonds or shares listed in the first quotation of the Zagreb Stock Exchange and the Varazdin Stock Exchange; all companies with significant market capitalization or turnover in the public companies listings, and the major financial institutions and public utilities.
Survey findings include the following:
· A high percentage (91%) of the companies surveyed have a website. The same percentage has websites in English.
· 53% of the companies surveyed provide the names of their management, but only 9% disclose additional information, such as a short biography.
· 40% of the companies surveyed provide their annual financial reports on their websites. The results for semi-annual and quarterly financial reports were dramatically different: only one of the companies surveyed (2%) provides these reports.
· 33% of the companies surveyed provide the names of their supervisory board members, but only 7% disclose any additional information on them.
· 28% of the companies surveyed describe their shareholding structure on their websites.
To download the surveys, please click on the links below:
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Database of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Funds
From October through December 2004, PFS Program Intern Vivien Vegh compiled the PFS Program’s first Database of Socially Responsible Investment Funds (SRI) Funds. The database complements the (Updated) Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) compiled in autumn 2004 and published on the PFS Program website on February 16, 2005. (See below.)
The database includes 478 SRI funds from 48 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. It is meant to complement databases compiled and research conducted by other institutions. For example, in November 2004 Sustainable Investment Research International (SiRi) Company published a report entitled, “Green, social and ethical funds in Europe 2004” presenting data as of June 30, 2004.
To download the database, please click on the link below:
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Updated Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) – February 2005
From mid-September through mid-October 2004, PFS Program Malgorzata Kapusta undertook a research project to update the PFS Program’s Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI).
The initial database was published on this page of the PFS Program website on October 25, 2002. It contained contact information about more than 275 organizations engaged in SRI. That database divided the organizations among eight categories.
The new database contains 726 organizations divided among the following ten categories: Academia (31 institutions), Companies/Listed Companies (258), Conferences (10), Financial Institutions (121), Governmental Organizations (55), Indices (7), Media (34 organizations), Non-Governmental Organizations (185), Professional Associations (3), and Rating/Research (22 organizations). The database includes institutions from 32 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. The growth in the number of organizations identified in this database through a range of public sources, primarily Internet and print media, demonstrates that during the past two years a wide group of constituencies have begun to address SRI issues.
During the process of updating the database, the PFS Program decided to create a separate database of SRI funds. (Please see the above entry dated February 17, 2005.)
To download the database, please click on the link below:
Friday, November 26, 2004
PFS Program Grant to Zagreb School of Economics & Management
The PFS Program awarded a PFS Program Grant to Zagreb School of Economics & Management to conduct two surveys: “Online Investor Relations: Survey of Websites of Listed Companies in Croatia” and “Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility by Listed Companies in Croatia.” The surveys will be completed in January 2005 and published on the websites of ZSEM and the PFS Program in early February 2005.
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Third Semi-Annual Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in Central and Eastern Europe
Budapest, Hungary
Today, the PFS Program publishes its third semi-annual Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the 10 Largest Listed Companies (by Market Capitalization) in Central and Eastern Europe. Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia were surveyed for the third time. Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania were included in the survey for the first time. The survey was conducted by PFS Program Interns Marek Korycki, Izabela Samson, Zuzana Schwartzova and Adam Szymasiuk.
The survey provides current data concerning companies’ disclosures on a range of CSR issues in annual reports and on websites as of August 15, 2004. For the companies from the eight new member states of the European Union (EU), comparative data from the previous surveys conducted in April 2004 and August 2003 is presented
In general, disclosures on CSR issues were similar to those observed in the survey conducted in April 2004. However, the survey demonstrates improvement in the quality and quantity of disclosures about corporate governance issues. As noted in the survey conducted in spring 2004, EU accession and adoption of corporate governance codes in several countries in 2003/2004 are two factors influencing broader and deeper reporting.
Survey findings include the following:
· 86% of the companies surveyed have an English language website (compared with 85% in April 2004 and 85% in August 2003);
· 74% of the companies surveyed provide an electronic version of the English-language annual report for 2003 (compared with 76% of the companies who provided a 2002 or 2003 annual report in April 2004);
· 99% of the companies surveyed disclose information about their governance structure in their annual report (compared with 59% in April 2004 and 40% in August 2003);
· 35% of the companies surveyed note compliance with environmental standards in their annual report (the same percentage as in April 2004 whereas in Augsut 2003 the percentage was 19%); and
· 51% of the companies surveyed mention employee development or benefits policy in their annual report (compared with 49% in April 2004 and 34% in August 2003).
In terms of disclosures made on company websites, other comparative findings include the following:
· In August 2004, 53% of the companies surveyed disclosed information about their shareholder rights policy; in April 2004, 51% of companies disclosed this information; and in August 2003, 14% of companies disclosed this information.
· In August 2004, 31% of the companies surveyed provided information about their environmental performance; in April 2004, 28% of companies provided this information; and in August 2003, 14% of companies surveyed provided this information;
· In August 2004, 17% of companies provided information about compliance with labor standards; in April 2004, 21% of companies provided this information; and in August 2004 only 3% of companies provided this information.
The first time results for Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania are positive; whereas few companies disclose complete information in English on all three information categories surveyed, at least one company from each country disclosed information on each of the five questions in each of the three categories. This demonstrates an awareness of these issues in each country.
To download the survey and the background databases, please click on the links below:
Friday, September 3, 2004
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)
PFS Program Interns Izabela Samson and Adam Szymasiuk conducted the PFS Program’s seventh semi-annual survey of online investor relations of the 10 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. In addition to Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia this survey includes Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania for the first time.
The survey demonstrates improved online disclosure by the largest listed companies in the eight new member states of the European Union (EU) and impressive first time survey results in the three EU-accession countries.
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE analyzes the websites of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in each of the following CEE countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The survey provides current data as of August 15, 2004 and comparisons with the six previous surveys, published in February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001.
As in previous surveys, the percentage of companies with a local-language website remains at 95%. In February 2004, 95% of the companies surveyed had a website, in comparison with 96% in August 2003 and 95% in February 2003.)
In August 2004, 84% of the companies surveyed have an English-language website, in comparison with 75% in February 2004, 84% in August 2003 and 80% in February 2003.
In contrast with the above generally stable thresholds, all other categories surveyed indicate increased disclosure of information.
Survey findings of the eight new member states of the European Union (EU) include the following:
95% of the companies surveyed have a local language website;
84% have an English-language website;
84% provide a list of management online (compared with 77% in February 2004);
38% provide additional information on management online (compared with 38% in February 2004);
70% provide a list of board members online (compared with 61% in February 2004); and
26% provide additional information on board members online (compared with 23% in February 2004).
A comparison of this first survey of companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania with the first complete survey of companies in eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries conducted by the PFS Program in February 2002 leads to a positive conclusion: In August 2004, the online investor relations practices of companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania are strikingly similar to the practices of the eight CEE countries in February 2002, two years prior to EU accession.
To download the survey and the background databases, please click on the links below:
Wednesday, May 5, 2004
Second Semi-Annual Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in Central and Eastern Europe
Budapest, Hungary
Today, the PFS Program publishes its second semi-annual Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the 10 Largest Listed Companies (by Market Capitalization) in Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The survey was conducted by PFS Program Interns Katarzyna Hanula and Marek Korycki.
The survey provides current data concerning companies’ disclosures on a range of CSR issues as of April 15, 2004 and a comparison with the previous survey conducted in August 2003. Comparative data from the previous year is not available for Hungarian and Polish companies, since the surveys conducted in those countries in 2003 analyzed information provided in Hungarian and Polish respectively. Additionally this survey analyzes disclosures related to corporate governance codes in those countries with such a code, i.e. Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The survey conducted in 2003 did not analyze such disclosures, because a corporate governance code either did not yet exist or had only recently been issued in the respective country.
The survey demonstrates that disclosures on CSR issues increased significantly over the past six months. Survey findings include the following:
-85% of the companies surveyed have an English language website;
-76% of the companies surveyed provide an English-language annual report for 2002 or 2003;
-59% of the companies surveyed mention employee development or benefits policy;
-51% of the companies surveyed note compliance with environmental standards; and
-20% of the companies surveyed disclose information regarding compliance with a Corporate Governance Code.
Comparative findings include the following:
-In April 2004, 40% of the companies surveyed disclosed information regarding the environmental impact of their operations; in August 2003, only 22% of companies surveyed provided this information.
-In April 2004, 36% of the companies surveyed provided audit-related information on their website; in August 2003 only 13% of companies surveyed provided this information;
Two significant factors influenced the improved results observed in this survey. First, several stock exchanges implemented corporate governance codes in 2003 and 2004. These codes provide an additional impetus/pressure to disclose a variety of data. Second, Hungary and Poland are covered by this regional survey for the first time and the above-average disclosures of Hungarian and Polish companies improved the general (regional) averages. For example, excluding Hungary and Poland, the above-mentioned averages decline to 30% (environmental impact) and 35% (audit-related information) respectively. Nevertheless, even without including these countries, a marked improvement can be observed.
The PFS Program will continue to analyze this issue; we will conduct a third semi-annual Survey in August 2004.
To download the background database and a presentation of the survey results, please click on the links below:
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Country Study: “Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by Listed Companies in Hungary”
Budapest, Hungary
On Thursday, March 25, 2004 Hungarian Environmental Economics Center (MAKK) released its first “Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by Listed Companies in Hungary.” The survey is part of a wider regional initiative organized by East-West Management Institute’s Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program.
The Survey of Reporting on CSR by Listed Companies in Hungary was conducted during the time period August - November 2003. It investigates Hungarian-language information available in the 2002 annual reports and websites of 27 companies listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange.
Encompassing corporate governance, environmental policies and social policies, the Hungarian survey employs the same template used by the PFS Program in its Survey of Reporting on CSR by the Largest Listed Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia, published in September 2003. In addition, country studies of listed companies in Czech Republic and Poland have been completed using the same template. (The Czech survey was published on this page of the PFS Program website on March 8, 2004. The Polish survey was published on this page of the PFS Program website on December 18, 2003.) As a result, the group of surveys should enable for the first time benchmarking of reporting on CSR in these countries against other countries in the European Union (EU) and elsewhere.
Survey findings include the following:
· 89% of Hungarian listed companies disclose relevant CSR information.
· 70% disclose shareholder rights policy and 56% provide information on corporate governance structure.
· In the field of environmental policy, 41% report on adherence to environmental standards and 37% disclose data about their environmental performance.
· In the social policy sphere, 56% of listed companies disclose employee development/employee benefit policies and 52% disclose information regarding community patronage/sponsorship programs.
To download the survey and a presentation of the survey results, please click on the links below:
Monday, March 8, 2004
Country Study: “Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by Listed Companies in Czech Republic”
Prague, Czech Republic
On Monday, March 8, 2004 The Leadership Forum released its first “Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by Listed Companies in the Czech Republic.” The survey is part of a wider regional initiative organized by East-West Management Institute’s Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program.
The Survey of Reporting on CSR by Listed Companies in the Czech Republic was conducted during the time period August - October 2003. It investigates Czech-language information available in the 2002 annual reports and websites of 33 companies listed on the Prague Stock Exchange.
Encompassing corporate governance, environmental policies and social policies, the Czech survey employs the same template used by the PFS Program in its Survey of Reporting on CSR by the Largest Listed Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia, published in September 2003. In addition, country studies of listed companies in Hungary and Poland have been completed using the same template. (The Polish survey was published on this page of the PFS Program website on December 18, 2003. The Hungarian survey will be published in late March 2004.) As a result, the group of surveys should enable for the first time benchmarking of reporting on CSR in these countries against other countries in the European Union (EU) and elsewhere.
Survey findings include the following:
- 91% of Czech listed companies provide information on corporate governance structure.
- 82% disclose audit related information and 48% disclose shareholder rights policy.
- In the environmental policy sphere, 39% report on energy and water use and 32% state whether they comply with industry, national and/or international regulations regarding environmental standards.
- In the social policy sphere, 61% of listed companies disclose employee development/employee benefit policies and 58% disclose information regarding community patronage/sponsorship programs.
To download the survey and a presentation of the survey results, please click on the links below:
Monday, March 1, 2004
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE
PFS Program Intern Katarzyna Hanula conducted the PFS Program’s sixth semi-annual survey of online investor relations of the 10 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in each of the following countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The survey provides current data and comparisons with the five previous surveys, completed in August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001.
The survey demonstrates that a majority of the largest listed in the region communicate with shareholders and potential investors via the Internet, in local language and in English. Nevertheless, comparison of this survey with the two surveys conducted in 2003 indicates that certain thresholds have been reached, and further improvements above these thresholds have not been made. For example: in February 2004, 95% of the companies surveyed have a website (in comparison with 96% in August 2003 and 95% in February 2003) and 75% have an English-language website (in comparison with 83% in August 2003 and 80% in February 2003).
Furthermore, as noted in previous surveys, many companies still do not provide additional information in English about management and supervisory board members. The survey suggests that “best practice” would include a separate page of the website dedicated to investor relations, including a photo and short biography of each senior manager and each member of the board of directors/supervisory board.
To download the survey and the background database, please click on the links below:
Thursday, December 18, 2003
Country Study: “Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility by Banks, Financial Institutions and Listed Companies in Poland”
Gdansk, Poland
On Thursday, December 18, 2003 The Gdansk Institute for Market Economics published its inaugural country study, “Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by Banks, Financial Institutions and Listed Companies.” This research, co-financed by a PFS Program Grant, is part of a comprehensive initiative involving a Regional Survey of Reporting on CSR by the Largest Listed Companies in CEE countries (published in September 2003) as well as country surveys conducted by research institutions in Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
The “Survey of Reporting on CSR by Polish Banks, Financial Institutions and Listed Companies” was conducted during the time period August – October 2003. It investigates Polish-language information available in the 2002 annual reports and websites of 31 Polish banks, 32 financial institutions (16 investment fund companies and 16 pension fund companies) and all 201 companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Encompassing corporate governance, environmental policies and social policies, the Polish survey employs the same template used by the PFS Program in its Survey of Reporting on CSR by the Largest Listed Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia, published in September 2003. In addition, similar country studies of listed companies have been completed in the Czech Republic and Hungary, and will be published in early January 2004. As a result, the group of surveys should enable for the first time benchmarking of reporting on CSR in these countries against other countries in the European Union (EU) and elsewhere.
Survey findings include the following:
- 74% of Polish listed companies provide information on management board structure and 62% on supervisory board structure.
- 100% of the banks surveyed provide information on management board structure and 93% provide information on supervisory board structure.
- 80% of the investment fund companies and 100% of the pension fund companies surveyed provide information about their management board structure.
- In the environmental policy sphere, 20% of Polish listed companies state whether they comply with industry, national and/or international regulations regarding environmental standards.
- In the social policy sphere, 18% of listed companies disclose employee development/employee benefit policies and 16% disclose information regarding community patronage/sponsorship programs.
To download the country study in Polish and/or in English, please click on the links below:
Monday, October 6, 2003
Investor Relations Online - Survey of Websites of Hungarian Listed Companies - 2003
In September 2003 PFS Program Intern Philipp-Emanuel Pap conducted an inaugural Survey of Online Investor Relations of Hungarian Companies Listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange. This is the PFS Program’s first in-depth survey of the online investor relations practices of all Hungarian listed companies. It adds to and complements the PFS Program’s ongoing research in this area, namely the regional surveys of online investor relations of the largest listed companies in Central and Eastern Europe conducted semi-annually as well as the annual surveys of online investor relations of Polish companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
To download the survey, please click on the link below:
Monday, September 22, 2003
Second Annual Survey of Websites of 42 Securities Commissions
In 2003, the PFS Program commissioned Digital Strategies Group, Inc. to conduct a second annual Survey of Websites of Securities Commissions in 42 Countries.
The inaugural survey was conducted in 2002 in response to a request from the Lithuanian Securities Commission.
The purpose of the surveys is fourfold: First, to survey what information the investing public can obtain in the English language via the websites of the securities commissions; Second, by analyzing the above, to survey how the securities commissions are informing, educating and thereby protecting the investing public; Third, to identify and survey best practices in investor education, information and protection via the websites of the securities commissions; and fourth, to share the survey results with securities commissions in the eight PFS countries and thereby promote: (a) discussion of lessons learned and (b) implementation of best practices.
This research was presented for the first time at a Seminar on Issuer Disclosure and Corporate Governance, organized by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Estonian Financial Supervision Authority, USAID and the PFS Program. The presentation took place on Thursday, September 18, 2003 in Tallinn, Estonia.
To download the survey, please click on the link below:
Thursday, September 4, 2003
Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in Central and Eastern Europe
Intern Amanda Schneier conducted the PFS Program’s first Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the 10 Largest Listed Companies (by market capitalization) in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The survey investigates companies’ disclosures on a range of CSR issues as of August 15, 2003.
Encompassing accounting standards, corporate governance, environmental policies and social policies, the survey analyzes corporate reporting on matters that previously might not have been considered essential. However, as the above-mentioned countries enter the European Union (EU), listed companies will come under the tighter scrutiny of EU disclosure requirements about these issues. Also, in a more global marketplace, listed companies will face more CSR-conscious investors and consumers.
This inaugural survey is designed to inform investors, listed companies, the public-at-large and regulators by providing a regional overview of current disclosure practices and facilitating an easy comparison of best practices. Via hyperlinks, a reader can move from the database directly into a company’s website and/or annual report to see how and where the specific information is disclosed. The survey should also enable the benchmarking of reporting in these countries against other countries in the EU and elsewhere.
Hungary and Poland are not covered in this survey. PFS Program grants to research institutions in those countries are currently co-financing similar surveys of all listed companies in those countries. That research, and a similar survey of all Czech listed companies, also co-financed by a PFS Program grant, will be published on this page in autumn 2003.
To download the survey and the background database, please click on the links below:
Tuesday, September 2, 2003
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE
PFS Program Intern Michal Slawinski conducted the PFS Program’s fifth survey of online investor relations of the 10 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in each of the following countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The survey provides current data and comparisons with the four previous surveys, completed in February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001.
The survey demonstrates a positive trend across the region; listed companies are disclosing more information online in English. Nevertheless, many companies still do not provide additional information in English about management and supervisory board members. The survey suggests that “best practice” would include a separate page of the website dedicated to investor relations, including a photo and short biography of each senior manager and each member of the board of directors/supervisory board.
To download the survey and the background database, please click on the links below:
Friday, July 11, 2003
Investor Relations Online Revisited - Survey of Websites of Polish Listed Companies - 2003
In 2003, the PFS Program commissioned Digital Strategies Group, Inc. to conduct a third annual Survey of Online Investor Relations of Polish Companies Listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. This in-depth survey analyzes current Polish practices and compares this year’s data with the survey completed in 2002.
To download the survey in English and Polish, please click on the links below:
Friday, March 21, 2003
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE
Bence Lanyi, Research Associate, PFS Program has conducted a fourth survey of online investor relations of the 10 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in each of the following Central and Eastern European countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The research follows three previous surveys completed in August 2001, February 2002 and August 2002. This data will be presented at upcoming PFS Program events throughout the region.
The survey provides current data and a comparison with data from the three previous surveys. The survey suggests that companies realize the importance of investor relations online; nevertheless it remains difficult to obtain detailed information in English about management and supervisory boards.
To download the survey and the background database, please click on the links below:
Friday, February 28, 2003
Standard Profile for Analyzing Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by Listed Companies in Central and Eastern Europe
PFS Program Intern Yarema Luciw and Bence Lanyi, PFS Program Research Associate drafted a standard profile for analyzing reporting on corporate social responsibility (CSR) by listed companies in Central and Eastern Europe. The standard template is designed to capture data on four key issues: corporate governance, business ethics, environmental policy and social policy. The PFS Program would like to thank ISIS Asset Management plc in London, UK and scoris GmbH (SiRi Group) in Hannover, Germany for their pro bono assistance in critiquing the standard profile developed by the PFS Program.
Throughout 2003, the PFS Program plans to utilize the standard profile in analyzing reporting on CSR by listed companies in Central and Eastern Europe.
To download the standard profile, please click on the links below:
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Largest Listed Companies in Hungary
The PFS Program has conducted a pilot research study on reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the 10 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in Hungary. The survey analyzed each company’s 2001 annual report and website for information disclosed about the company’s CSR activities and policies. The research was conducted by Bence Lanyi, Research Associate, PFS Program.
The survey indicates that whereas CSR activities/policies of the 10 largest listed companies vary widely, manufacturing companies currently offer the most information about their environmental activities, impact and policies. Of the 10 companies surveyed: four disclosed comprehensive information about their environmental policy; and four reported on CSR and issues related to Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). Two companies do not mention CSR or SRI in the information currently available on their websites.
The PFS Program will conduct a similar survey of the 10 largest listed companies in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia during the first quarter of 2003.
To download the survey, please click on the link below:
Friday, November 1, 2002
Investor Relations Online Revisited - Survey of Websites of Polish Listed Companies - 2002
In summer 2002, the PFS Program commissioned Digital Strategies Group, Inc. to conduct a second annual Survey of Online Investor Relations of Polish Companies Listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. This in-depth survey analyzes current Polish practices and compares this year’s data with the survey completed in 2001. Digital Strategies Group, Inc. will repeat the survey in 2003.
To download the survey, please click on the link below:
Friday, October 25, 2002
Database of Contacts in the Field of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI)
Over the past decade, socially responsible investment and sustainable development have moved from the periphery and towards the mainstream of capital markets, both in international financial centers and throughout emerging markets. A decade ago, these related yet separate issues were perceived to be the domain of specialized investment funds and companies with a particular mission. Today, although both terms continue to mean different things to different constituencies, a growing number of financial institutions and companies now take a proactive approach and report on their activities related to SRI. The establishment of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes is one clear sign of this trend; the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) announcement of a major portfolio reallocation on February 20, 2002 is another. (See below for a detailed description of the CalPERS announcement.)
In order to analyze the challenges of and prospects for SRI in Central and Eastern Europe, the PFS Program undertook an initial survey of the current status of online reporting about this topic in Central and Eastern Europe, the European Union (EU) and the United States.
In September/October 2002, PFS Program Intern Elisa Melkus surveyed press articles and Internet reporting about SRI during the time period January 1, 2000-September 30, 2002. Primary sources included reports published in Business Hungary, Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, Investor Relations magazine, Wall Street Journal Europe and Warsaw Business Journal. The survey resulted in the establishment of a database of more than 275 organizations engaged in SRI. The database divides the organizations into the following groups: Academia, Conferences, Financial Institutions, Governmental Organizations, International Development Organizations, Listed Companies, Media, and Non-Governmental Organizations.
The presentation of the database here represents an initial attempt by the PFS Program to collect information about SRI, with a particular focus on its relevance to capital market development in emerging markets. The PFS Program will continue to research this subject and update the database in regular intervals.
To download the database, please click on the link below:
Wednesday, October 9, 2002
Trend towards Consolidated Financial Supervisory Authorities (FSAs)
On April 1, 2000, Hungary merged four separate regulatory authorities into one institution - the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority - and thereby became the first CEE country to establish a consolidated financial supervisory authority. At that time, Dr. Laszlo Gyorgy Asztalos, President of the Hungarian State Supervisory Authority of Insurance between 1992-2000, drafted a paper entitled, "Independence of Financial Supervisory Authorities" for the publication series of Central European Banker Online.
(To download the report, please click on this hyperlink:
http://www.mkb.hu/english/download/ceb/2000/aszteng.pdf)
Ironically, although the Hungarian consolidated model was based on the British example, the UK Financial Services Authority began operations later than its Hungarian brainchild, namely on December 1, 2001. (The actual consolidation process in the UK took place between May 1997 and December 2001.) With over 10,000 companies, the UK has the largest financial market in Europe and the FSA some 2,000 employees to regulate it.
Denmark was the first EU country to embark on consolidated supervision: In 1988, Denmark established the Financial Supervisory Authority, merging several regulatory agencies supervising specific sectors such as banking and insurance. The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority was established in 1991 and the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority in 1993. As noted above, by 2000 the trend spread to CEE, with the establishment on April 1, 2000 of the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority.
While a number of European countries still have separate supervisory authorities for banking, capital markets, insurance and pension reform, the current trend among EU member states and candidate countries is towards consolidated supervision.
Consolidation of supervision mirrors the growth over the past decade of larger, horizontally-integrated financial institutions providing a wide range of services, including asset management, credit (business, consumer, institutional, mortgage and other), insurance and investment services. As the distinctions among financial institutions became blurred, a change in the regulatory regime became necessary. Proponents of consolidated supervision maintain that a consolidated authority can better supervise the many business segments of complex financial institutions. Furthermore, a consolidated authority also addresses issues such as acquisitions, mergers and takeovers; financial fraud; insider trading; and money laundering.
Please click on the hyperlink below to download the table which presents the situation in 15 countries as of September 1, 2002.
Friday, September 13, 2002
Survey of Websites of 42 Securities Commissions
In response to a request from the Lithuanian Securities Commission, the PFS Program commissioned Digital Strategies Group, Inc. to conduct a Survey of Websites of Securities Commissions in 42 Countries.
The purpose of the survey was fourfold: First, to survey what information the investing public can obtain in the English language via the websites of the securities commissions; Second, by analyzing the above, to survey how the securities commissions are informing, educating and thereby protecting the investing public; Third, to identify and survey best practices in investor education, information and protection via the websites of the securities commissions; and Fourth, to share the survey results with securities commissions in the eight PFS countries and thereby: (a) promote discussion of lessons learned and (b) implementation of best practices.
This groundbreaking research was presented for the first time at a Seminar on Issuer Disclosure and Corporate Governance, organized by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Lithuanian Securities Commission, USAID and the PFS Program. The presentation took place on Friday, September 13, 2002 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
To download the survey, please click on the link below.
Friday, August 30, 2002
Implementation of International Accounting Standards (IAS) in Central and Eastern Europe
Beginning in 2005, the European Union (EU) will require all EU listed companies to produce consolidated financial statements in accordance with International Accounting Standards (IAS).
This presents a challenge to listed companies in both current EU member states and candidate countries, since at present a wide range of accounting standards are employed across Europe.
In order to better understand the impact of the EU requirement in the candidate countries, the PFS Program has conducted a survey of accounting requirements for listed companies in eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia.
In each country, the accounting standards are determined by the listing rules of the respective stock exchange. Seven of the eight stock exchanges in question (Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague, Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius and Warsaw) have more than one market segment; the Tallinn Stock Exchange has only one market segment.
The table below presents the listing requirements at each of the eight stock exchanges.
Implementation of IAS in these eight markets may be summarized as follows:
- IAS-compliant financial statements are obligatory for listed companies in the main market in five countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia.
- In Hungary, companies may produce financial statements according to national law, IAS or US GAAP.
- In Poland, the home country of the issuer determines whether Polish Accounting Standards, IAS or US GAAP may be applied.
- In Slovenia, companies produce financial statements according to Slovene Accounting Principles, which at present are not completely IAS-compliant.
The PFS Program is cooperating with accounting and auditing self-regulatory organizations (SROs) in several CEE countries to conduct training on IAS. This training is designed to assist listed companies meet the 2005 deadline for producing IAS-compliant consolidated financial statements.
| Countries | Market Segments | Accounting Requirements for Listed Companies | Source | Date of Requirement |
| Czech Republic | Main Market | IAS | Fact Book Prague Stock Exchange | 2001 |
| Secondary Market | Either National Accounting Standards or IAS | Fact Book Prague Stock Exchange | 2001 |
| New Market | Not prescribed | Fact Book Prague Stock Exchange | 2001 |
| Estonia | | IAS; if contradiction with accounting in Estonia, IAS is stronger; Exception can be allowed by Listing Committee of the Exchange | Requirements for Issuers - Tallinn Stock Exchange; Listing Rules - Tallinn Stock Exchange |
|
| Hungary | Foreign & Domestic Issuers | Domestic Law, IAS or US GAAP | Regulations for listing, continued trading and disclosure | January 14, 2002 |
| Annual Report for securities listed in Category "A" | IAS or US GAAP | Regulations for listing, continued trading and disclosure | January 14, 2002 |
| Latvia | Official List | IAS and National Accounting Standards of the issuer's country of registration at least for last year of last 3 years for annual report, exception can be made by Riga SE Management Board | Enforcement Note on Securities Lists | January 18, 2002 |
| Secondary List | National Accounting Standards of the issuer's country of registration for 2 previous years for annual report, exception can be made by Riga SE Management Board | Enforcement Note on Securities Lists | January 18, 2002 |
| Lithuania | Official List | IAS, auditor's opinion on GAAP, both for 3 preceding years | Trading Rules | February 1, 1999 |
| Current List | Accounting Standards of the Republic of Lithuania with auditor's opinion also on GAAP | Trading Rules | February 1, 1999 |
| Unlisted Securities | Trading Rules | February 1, 1999 |
| Poland | Main market-annual financial report for 3 years | Polish companies - Polish Accounting Standards. Foreign companies - IAS or US GAAP.
Polish leasing companies - Polish Accounting Standards and IAS or US GAAP. | Decree of the Council of Ministers on current and periodical information provided by issuers of securities | October 16, 2001 |
| Parallel market-annual financial report for 2 years |
| Free market - annual financial report for 1 year |
| Slovak Republic | Listed Main Market (Shares, Bonds, Certificates) | IAS and National Accounting Standards.
Foreign issuer's prospectus: IAS | Stock Exchange Regulations | July 2, 2001 |
| Listed Parallel Market (Shares, Bonds, Certificates) | Slovak companies - either National Accounting Standards or IAS
Foreign issuer's prospectus: IAS | Stock Exchange Regulations | July 2, 2001 |
| Listed New Market - Shares | Slovak companies - either National Accounting Standards or IAS
Foreign issuer's prospectus: IAS | Stock Exchange Regulations | July 2, 2001 |
| Slovenia | Official Market | Slovene Accounting Principles | Rules of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange | June 2000 |
| Free Market | Slovene Accounting Principles | Rules of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange | June 2000 |
| Co-operation of Baltic Stock Exchanges (Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius) | Baltic List (15 largest and most liquid companies of the region) | IAS | Baltic List | January 3, 2000 |
Thursday, August 1, 2002
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE
Bence Lanyi, Research Associate, PFS Program has conducted a third survey of online investor relations of the 10 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in each of the following Central and Eastern European countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The research follows two previous surveys completed in August 2001 and February 2002, and was designed to be presented at the series of investor relations seminars the PFS Program will conduct in cooperation with the stock exchanges in the above-mentioned eight Central and Eastern European countries. (Please see the Capital Markets Seminars page for the agendas and presentations from those seminars.)
The survey provides current data and a comparison with data from the two previous surveys. The survey suggests that companies are slowly beginning to provide more information online about their management and supervisory boards.
To download the survey and the background database, please click on the links below:
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE
Bence Lanyi, Research Associate, PFS Program conducted a second survey of online investor relations of the 10 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in each of the following Central and Eastern European countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The research follows a first survey completed in summer 2001 and was designed to be presented at the series of investor relations seminars the PFS Program will conduct in cooperation with the stock exchanges in the above-mentioned eight Central and Eastern European countries. (Please see the Capital Markets Seminars page for the agendas and presentations from those seminars.)
The survey provides current data and a comparison with data from the August 2001 survey. It demonstrates that in February 2002, each of the ten largest listed companies in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia has a website in local language and English, whereas English-language websites are not as prevalent in other countries.
To download the survey and the background database, please click on the links below:
Wednesday, February 20, 2002
CalPERS Announcement
Sacramento, California
On February 20, 2002 the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) – one of the largest public pension funds in the United States - announced that it was selling its investments in several Southeast Asian emerging markets and reallocating its portfolio based on specific investment criteria. CalPERS, established in 1932, today has a managed asset value of US$151.8 billion, US$1billion of which is allocated for emerging market investment in 2002. Considering the relatively small size of the emerging markets where CalPERS may invest and the potential knock-on effect by other institutional investors who might follow CalPERS lead, this decision could significantly impact investment in several countries over the medium and long-term.
As a result of its new investment analysis, CalPERS will begin or continue to invest in publicly traded companies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, Peru, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey while simultaneously divesting its holdings in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. (CalPERS was not able to invest in Hungary or Poland before this new analysis was completed; it already was able to invest in Czech Republic.)
Below is an abstract from the analysis of all the above emerging markets. Each market was analyzed with respect to three country factors and five market factors. In the six countries presented here, the ratings for each subcategory ranged from 1 (poor) to 3 (good).
 |
|
Argentina |
Czech Republic |
Hungary |
Poland |
Russia |
Turkey |
Country
Factors
(50%) |
Political stability(17%) |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
| Transparency(16%) |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
Productive labor
practices(17%) |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
Market
Factors
(50%) |
Market liquidity
and volatility (10%) |
2 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
Market regulation
/Legal system/
Investor protection (15%) |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
Capital market
openness (10%) |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
| Settlement proficiency (10%) |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
| Transaction costs (5%) |
3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
| Overall |
Overall average results |
2.63 |
2.25 |
2.5 |
2.39 |
1.15 |
2.02 |
Ranking of emerging
countries |
1 |
8 |
4 |
6 |
27 |
13 |
Based on the weighted overall average figures, the emerging markets were ranked: Argentina ranked first and Russia last. CalPERS’ investment managers may invest in any market with a weighted average result of at least 2.00.
Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland received quite similar ratings, ranging between 2.25 and 2.5. According to CalPERS, the most significant issues are: low liquidity in the Czech Republic; relatively poor market regulation and legal system (bankruptcy legislation, creditors rights and shareholder protection) in all three counties; and poor settlement systems in Czech Republic and Hungary.
Although CalPERS was already able to invest in Czech Republic before the February 20, 2002 announcement, both Hungary and Poland – newcomers to the list of countries where CalPERS may invest - scored slightly higher ratings than the Czech Republic in this new analysis.
For further information on the CalPERSannouncement, please visit the CalPERS website and its Press Archive for February 20, 2002.
Saturday, September 1, 2001
Investor Relations Online - Survey of Websites of Polish Listed Companies
In summer 2001, PFS Program commissioned Digital Strategies Group, Inc. to conduct a survey of Online Investor Relations of Polish Companies Listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. This in-depth survey of Polish practices follows a survey conducted by the PFS Program of online investor relations at the 10 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Slovak Republic. (See below.) The research was designed to be presented at the series of investor relations seminars the PFS Program will conduct in cooperation with the stock exchanges in the above-mentioned eight Central and Eastern European stock exchanges. (Please see the Capital Markets Seminars page for the agendas and presentations from those seminars.)
Digital Strategies Group, Inc. will repeat the survey in 2002.
To download the survey, please click on the link below:
Wednesday, August 1, 2001
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE
The PFS Program has conducted a first survey of online investor relations of the 10 largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in each of the following Central and Eastern European countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The research was designed to be presented at the series of investor relations seminars the PFS Program will conduct in cooperation with the stock exchanges in the above-mentioned eight Central and Eastern European countries. (Please see the Capital Markets Seminars page of the PFS Program website for the agendas and presentations from those seminars.)
PFS Program interns Eva Katinka Schmidt and Yulia Anderson conducted the survey. From May through July 2001, 87 companies were surveyed. Of these, 80 had websites, 66 of which included information in the English language. 57 of the English-language websites provided information about the company’s management. 47 provided information about the supervisory board: 19 websites listed the names of the supervisory board members, 8 provided current occupation or place of employment of the members in addition to their names.
To download the database of companies and the survey, please click on the links below:
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