|
||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
frequently asked questionsClick here to read the FAQ for participating in the Corporate Responsibility Index > > > What does the Corporate Responsibility Index measure?The Corporate Responsibility Index measures responsible business practice through evaluating four main areas: > the corporate responsibility strategy of the business What are the benefits of completing the Corporate Responsibility Index?By completing the Corporate Responsibility Index, your company will be using a proven business tool that enables you to most effectively incorporate best business practice through your strategy and implementation processes across the whole organisation. Completing the Corporate Responsibility Index will drive overall performance through enhanced reputation, the retention and attraction of talented staff, lower costs through eco-efficiency and building upon existing company profiles for investment purposes. The confidential individual feedback report will provide companies with their position overall in the Index, in their sector, economic group and leading UK businesses. It is a powerful internal management tool helping to engage board members and raise awareness of the complete range of corporate responsibility issues across the business whilst highlighting areas of strength and weakness. The Index is an important external communications tool enabling companies to underwrite the public statements that they make on responsible business practice. It is an important communications tool during a time when stakeholders are becoming increasingly sceptical. What differentiates the Corporate Responsibility Index from other indices?The Corporate Responsibility Index is the only voluntary, business led index which includes all business sectors and reports on the four key impact areas of corporate responsibility: community, workplace, marketplace and environment. The Corporate Responsibility Index acts as a business tool rather than an investment tool. Other indices, such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the FTSE4 Good, feature economic indicators and are used largely as socially responsible investment indices. Core features of the Corporate Responsibility Index include:
Other offerings incorporate similar aspects in their design. We do not think any other offering has all of these aspects available to participating companies. Unlike other indices driven primarily by NGOs, the Corporate Responsibility Index was designed by over 80 leading UK businesses, collaboratively with UK based non-profit organisation, Business in the Community. The Corporate Responsibility Index is also completed voluntarily through participation of the company rather than on an unrequested basis. Are NGOs/not-for-profits involved in the Index?The Australian CR Index meets with a NGO Advisory Group on a quarterly basis, this external stakeholder group mirrors that of the UK Corporate Responsibility Index. We have invited leading Australian and New Zealand NGOs/not-for-profits to join this group. Are there any businesses excluded from the participating in the Index?The Corporate Responsibility Index does not exclude any business sectors. It concentrates on how all legal business operates responsibly with communities, the environment and their stakeholders. What has been the response to the Corporate Responsibility Index in the UK?There has been an extremely positive response from business, investment fund managers and city analysts, pension funds, insurers, government and the public. In its first year it attracted 122 companies, 53 from the FTSE 100. Last year 120 companies participated. Will St James Ethics Centre be changing the Index designed in the UK for implementation in Australia and New Zealand?No, the questions have been designed with the global corporate responsibility agenda in mind. However, it is anticipated that the experience of Australian and NZ companies in completing the CR Index will feed into the process in which the Corporate Responsibility Index is modified and developed as a whole. Will St James Ethics Centre review the process?Yes. After the results have been released there will be feedback workshops available for participants to express their views and opinions on the Index and its process. However, it should be noted that St James Ethics Centre will neither assess nor rate any of the companies participating in the Index. The Centre's role is to act as a 'trustee' to oversee the quality and integrity of the process. Participating businesses will self-report on their performance and Ernst & Young will check and validate the responses. How robust is the validation process?The Corporate Responsibility Index is a self-assessment process. Each submission must be signed off at main board level to ensure director-level commitment to the credibility of the responses to the survey. Ernst & Young reviews each company’s submission for completeness and consistency. In addition Ernst & Young will meet with selected participants to check their understanding and interpretation of the questions and seek further substantiation when necessary. Questions are provided with comprehensive guidelines to minimise the chance of misinterpretation. How is the Corporate Responsibility Index weighted/ranked?Each of the four components of the Index model are weighted as follows:
In addition each management section of Community, Environment, Marketplace and Workplace are equally weighted, and each of the (six in total) social and environmental impact areas we request you to respond to are also equally weighted. Companies are given credit for what they implement across their business and questions within each section are generally equally weighted. Once the validation process has been completed by Ernst & Young the results are electronically generated by the survey databases. How much does it cost to participate in the Corporate Responsibility Index?To ensure the ongoing sustainability of the CR Index, a not-for-profit initiative, we have introduced a nominal participation and validation fee. A nominal validation fee was first introduced for the Fourth CR Index in 2006-7 to contribute to the costs of external validation. The Sixth Index (2008-9) will also see the introduction of a participation fee that contributes to the core project costs. The total fee for each CR Index participant includes a cost component for participation and another for validation. Participation fee – AUD 3,000 + GST This fee applies to all CR Index options and includes:
The CR Index is licensed to St James Ethics Centre for use in Australia and New Zealand. St James Ethics Centre is a not-for-profit organisation which acts as a trustee for the process. The Centre does not participate in any aspect of the rating process for this self-assessment, but works to ensure access to the survey and the overall integrity of the process. Validation fee External Validators examine all responses to the self assessment survey for completeness and consistency. In addition, site visits are offered to all participants to check their understanding and interpretation of the questions and seek further substantiation when necessary. The validation fee includes: site visits to participants, analytical testing of participant scores, and testing, on a sample basis, of participant responses against supporting evidence. Ernst & Young Environment & Sustainability Services provided this important service at a discounted fee to participants. Ernst & Young is neither involved in the generation of scores, nor has access to the system used by St James Ethics Centre to generate the scores. The following rates are for the Fifth CR Index in 2007-8. The fees for the Sixth Index will be available in July 2008.
NOTE: The fees for the Sixth Index will be provided in July 2008. The participation fee is incurred with registration to participate, with a two-week period of grace in the event of a change of mind. The validation fee is incurred with the participant’s online submission to the CR Index. This project has been made possible through the support of our partners whom we acknowledge. From the inception of the CR Index The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age generously sponsored the project providing funding for the past four years. They continue to support the program as our media partner. Ernst & Young supported the project for the first three years through pro-bono validation. A discounted rate for the validation service was introduced for the Fourth Index in 2006-7. Business in the Community, in the UK, creators of the CR Index, generously licensed the Index for use in Australia and New Zealand for the past four years of the project. A licensing fee will be introduced for the Fifth Index in 2007-8. Are companies more attracted to investment-based indices?We believe that as the Corporate Responsibility Index develops a global presence, so it will come to be seen as the standard instrument for evaluating company performance against the most relevant corporate responsibility criteria. We anticipate that major fund managers will focus on traditional measures of company performance – using the Index as their principal point of reference when engaging with companies. The Index will gain strength from its positioning as a global reference tool operating in all major markets. If our assessment is correct, then companies will be attracted to the Corporate Responsibility Index which will complement established methods for reporting on financial performance. How is the Corporate Responsibility Index linked to the Global Reporting Initiative?Instead of a reporting framework such as the Global Reporting Initiative the Corporate Responsibility Index is a benchmarking tool. The GRI has been mapped onto the Corporate Responsibility Index. The main area where it does not overlap is on economic components. What approach is Fairfax bringing to the Corporate Responsibility Index?The terms of the agreement proposed between St James Ethics Centre and Fairfax (publishers of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age) formally recognises an intention to promote good practice as the primary aim of the exercise. No party is interested in the ‘blame and shame’ game that has informed other approaches to this type of exercise. Fairfax will also draw upon material from the broader debate about responsibility and focus on the benefits of responsible corporate activity. How are the Index results to be published?Results are published as a table with participating companies listed in alphabetical order. The methods used by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age (Fairfax) for publishing the results will be influenced by the UK experience. In the first year companies in the UK were listed in quintiles - click here to view a PDF of the UK executive summary. Australian and New Zealand results are published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in May each year. The UK top 100 participating companies are listed in a supplement titled ‘Companies that Count’ in The Sunday Times in May each year. Key points that have been raised by Fairfax during recent consultations with businesses are:
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age will not see any material submitted by companies. They will only see the results. Participating companies will not be named until the results are published. It is at the company’s own discretion should they wish to publicise their involvement on their own websites or if they wish case studies of their corporate responsibility practices to be reported in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. What is the future of the Corporate Responsibility Index?We believe that the process will improve (less of a time constraint, etc) if we can get through the first cycle. With enough goodwill and trust from the business community, we believe that we can establish a foundation that will eventually see a reduction in the number of indices companies are asked to participate in - with the credible, voluntary option succeeding. However, for this to happen, we really need business to embrace this current opportunity. That is why we see this as being a collaborative process - in which we will try to be as flexible as possible in responding to the day-to-day needs of participating companies. |
|
|
|
|
site map > copyright & legal > about the site The Corporate Responsibility Index is funded by the Australian Federal Government. The Index, developed and maintained by Business in the Community in the UK, is a project of St James Ethics Centre supported by Ernst & Young. Our media partners are The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Project catalyst: Pilotlight Australia. |
|
|
|
|||