legitimating exercise which companies can hide behind in the way that they did with
the Sullivan Principles.^19 The case of ICI in the United Kingdom illustrates that sim-
ply telling companies whatthey should report on is insufficient to ensure accounta-
bility.^20
As well as guidelines, reporting award schemes also have an influence on the qual-
ity of corporate social reporting. In the United Kingdom, the Institute of Social and
Ethical AcccountAbility (ISEA) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accoun-
tants (ACCA) run a joint awards scheme covering social reporting only, the Social
Reporting Awards. This scheme started in 1999 and in 2001 there were 26 entries for
the awards.^21
(c) Disclosures
(i) General. A wide variety of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) covering social
issues are used in company reports. It is often not clear whether they cover all the is-
sues considered to be material by shareholders. Some companies use indicators de-
rived from internal data only, while others include KPIs based on stakeholder views
of various issues obtained through questionnaire surveys. KPIs used by Shell are
shown in Exhibit 23.6 and include: safety statistics; number of countries in which
their operations have staff forums and grievance procedures; country of origin of
23 • 10 CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL REPORTINGBox 1: Existing CSR Standards Surveys
- Comparison of Selected Corporate Social Responsibility-Related Standards, BSR (2001)
compares 7 key standards. http://www.bsr.org - ILO Business and Social Initiatives Database. An exhaustive database of documents relat-
ing to CSR including standards, searchable by sector, country and type of initiative.
http://oracle02.ilo.org:6060/vpi/vpisearch.first - Maquila Solidarity Network Codes Resources. Compares major multistakeholder labour
codes. http://www.maquilasolidarity.org/resources/codes/index.htm - OECD Codes of Corporate Conduct Inventory looks at 233 voluntary codes.
http://www.oecd.org/ech/act/codes.htm - Private Initiatives and Labour Standards: A Global Look, ILO (1998) reviews 215 codes and
standards in relation to labour issues.
http://www.unglobalcompact.org/un/gc/unweb.nsf/content/ilostudy.htm - The SIGMA Standards Overview, Sigma Project (2001) gives an overview of 21 standards.
http://www.projectsigma.org.uk - U.S. Council for International Business Compendium of Corporate Responsibility Initiatives
(2001). Outlines the 20 of the major international standards.
http://www.uscib.org/docs/01_10_24_cr_compendium.pdf
Source:Forstater et al. “Mapping Standards for Corporate Social AccountAbility,” Account-
Ability, 2002.
Exhibit 23.5. Surveys of CSR Standards.
(^19) Arnold and Hammond, 1994.
(^20) Adams, 2002b.
(^21) ACCA, 2002.