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More Companies in Emerging Markets Create Corporate Governance Websites
English-speaking investors and stakeholders can investigate the environmental, social, and
governance policies of an increasing pool of large cap-companies headquartered in 11 Central and
Eastern European (CEE) Countries finds the tenth semi-annual Survey of Reporting on Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) released by the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program.
Annual reports and websites of the ten largest
listed companies in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia were examined by the PFS to find disclosure practices. The PFS also
examined similar companies in the Ukraine, and in Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) to create
a peer group of emerging market companies.
PFS found that, following the trend of previous
PFS surveys, there is growing online disclosure of ESG information offered in English, specifically
in the social policy arena. However, more information on corporate environmental policies needs to
be released in CEE companies' annual reports. Overall, the companies in BRIC had more English
language websites and provided more disclosures than CEE companies. As of April 15, 2008, 26% of
CEE companies offered online ESG reports in English while 42.5% of BRIC companies offered ESG
reports online in English.
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