November 2, 2007

BP, Barclays, ENI Top List Of World’s Most Accountable Companies

Oil giant BP is the world’s most accountable company according to this year’s Accountability Rating. The Rating also finds that European companies are forging ahead, with 18 global companies headquartered in Europe featured in the top 20.

The top ten companies, in this order, are: BP, Barclays, ENI, HSBC Holdings, Vodafone, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Peugeot, HBOS, Chevron, and DaimlerChrysler.

Produced by think-tank AccountAbility and consultancy csrnetwork, the rating assesses the information Fortune Global 100 companies put into the public domain, as well as data on their actual social and environmental performance. Companies are rated on strategy, governance, engagement and impact.

Despite recent headlines, BP remains a leader in accountable practices, according to the rating, which reports that “the company performs well, with independent assurance statements, a good governance structure and a high level of public disclosure, and has been progressive in multi-stakeholder initiatives like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the US Climate Action Partnership.”

The rating also find that:

• An increase in the accountability of the G100 (revenues over $10 trillion) with average performance rising 3.6 per cent since 2006.
• European companies are the most accountable; a small sample of Asian companies outperforms US firms.
• Retail and FMCG sectors under-perform, suggesting that some global brands may need to invest more in strategy, systems and engagement as consumers increasingly hold them to account.

See the full rating for the G100 here.

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