Level, quality of disclosure improving

Golden Bee finds western China region leads in innovative reports

Chinese enterprises have significantly improved the quality of their corporate social responsibility reports, according to a newly released index.

Companies from western China generate the best-quality reports, which are more innovative and readable than those in eastern China, according to the Golden Bee Corporate Society Responsibility Index.

Companies in eastern China contribute three-quarters of the total number of reports, and enterprises in western China make up nearly 10 percent of the total, research found.

Electric utilities have become leaders in releasing comprehensive reports.

The construction industry has shown the most impressive increase in quality, but the standard of reports from financial institutions has fluctuated.

In the past five years, domestic enterprises have steadily increased the number of CSR reports they release. As of Oct 31 this year, 2,240 such reports had been released, up 37 percent from a year earlier.

"The disclosure of information is a very hard topic, not only in China but also in other parts of the world," said Maisoun Jabali, head of the CSR Center at the Swedish embassy in Beijing.

The quality of reports is improving because of innovative structures, content and formats, the Golden Bee index indicated.

China WTO Tribune, a monthly journal on China's World Trade Organization-related work established by the Ministry of Commerce in 2002, evaluated five Golden Bee reports on CSR since 2009.

"Most such reports in China feature content on what enterprises want to tell stakeholders. It's critical to increase the content on what stakeholders care about in future reports," said Yin Gefei, vice-president of the China WTO Tribune.

He said companies increasingly release corporate social responsibility reports amid rising social expectations. Releasing the report will prompt a company to improve its management internally, and advance with marketing and branding externally.

Yin suggested that enterprises publish reports that take a more reader-friendly and innovative approach and focus on information that stakeholders need to know.

Most of the well-regarded companies in China have achieved sustainable growth by operating with credibility and integrity. In addition, they have done a great deal to protect the environment and contributed to worthy causes and fostered innovations.

The quality of a CSR report is correlated with the scale of a company. State-owned enterprises, listed companies and industry leaders tend to have better reports.

The content differs among companies as well. For example, SOEs pay more attention to staff, customers, government relations and the disclosure of financial information.

Foreign enterprises and those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are more concerned with information disclosure regarding suppliers and social organizations.

Private enterprises have significantly improved the quality of information they disclose to the media and regulators.