Dubai: A new survey suggests the world's top companies benefit from reporting corporate responsibility initiatives.
The KPMG International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2011 looked at common threads running through the top 250 companies as well as 3,400 other companies in 34 countries and 15 sectors.
"Almost half of the G250 companies report gaining financial value from their CR initiatives. In the absence of a regulatory global sustainability reporting standard, the drive for consistency and accessibility to quality data was highlighted in the findings," the company said in a statement.
The survey revealed that CR reporting is now routine for 95 per cent of the top 250 companies and that developing nation companies are also opting in.
"The developing nations showing fast uptake and reporting by pharmaceuticals, consumer markets and construction industries more than doubled since KPMG International last conducted its global survey in 2008." Wim Bartels, global head of KPMG sustainability assurance, said CR initiatives need higher quality data in future as companies adopt better reporting. "Unlike financial reporting, the disclosure of sustainability metrics to the market is largely unregulated," he said. "Restatements are four times higher compared to financial reporting and demonstrate that CR reporting has some way to go."
Andrew Robinson of KPMG Lower Gulf said that size matters as far as CR reporting goes.
