Bucharest, September 24th, 2019: According to an analysis performed by INNOVA Project Consulting, an independent non-financial reporting and sustainability consulting company, more than 60% of the 84 companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange do not provide sufficient information to investors about their economic, social and environmental performance. The analysis was done based on the public information contained in the directors’ report, the non-financial report / non-financial statement or other similar documents related to the financial year 2018.
The problem of liquidity faced by the Romanian capital market is also maintained by an insufficient level of transparency of the listed companies. These need to communicate on one hand more and more often information that may be of interest to investors, and on the other hand to improve the quality of annual reports.
Preparing non-financial reports that provide investors, as well as other stakeholders, complete and relevant information about the entire performance of the company, established as an obligation for some of the listed companies, has not yet reached a sufficient high level of quality.
Many of the companies that have published such reports do not yet fully comply with the requirements of the normative act (MFP Order No. 1938/2016), because they do not present the process by which the relevant non-financial information were identified, they do not give a reading key to the company’s performance by including some indicators or they do not describe how non-financial issues are managed. Unfortunately, this does not encourage the rest of the companies that are not obliged to publish a non-financial report, although the benefits are very high. These either choose to introduce in the Directors’ Report a minimum of social and environmental information, but which do not provide an overview, or do not communicate any non-financial information.
Internationally, there is a growing evidence that issuers that publish quality information on economic, social and environmental performance, also known as ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) information, are more able to attract and retain investors on a long term. According to the Global Survey of Individual Investors study from 2018 conducted by Natixis Investment Managers, 73% of investors are more likely to invest in a company that improves its environmental performance by reducing its carbon footprint, and 56% of investors consider that a company which has greater integrity in its business practices, will be more efficient than its competitors.
In Romania, 24 out of the listed companies obliged to report have published non-financial information by one of the two reporting ways provided by the MFP Order Nr. 1938/2016 (Separate Non-Financial Report or Non-Financial Statement included in the Directors ‘Report), out of which only 9 using an international reporting standard, 7 companies published a series of non-financial information dispersed in the Directors’ Report, while a company did not publish such information.
In addition to reporting of non-financial information, companies, especially listed companies, need to be aware of the benefits they can have, such as enhancing the company’s ability to attract new investors, by providing information that explains the company’s sustainable development on a long term.
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INNOVA Project Consulting is an independent non-financial reporting and sustainability consulting company, active in Romania for 6 years. INNOVA Project Consulting consultants have a wide national and international expertise and a portfolio of important clients, among the largest companies in Romania, from various fields of activity: oil and gas, mining, chemical, IT&C.
INNOVA is a partner of the GRI – Global Reporting Initiative, a member of the GOLD Community and an authorized insurance services provider in the field of sustainability recognized by the international organization AccountAbility, as well as an Affiliate Member of the Romanian Association for Investor Relations (ARIR).
The company is actively involved in the education of the entrepreneurial and organizational environment in Romania, by organizing trainings and seminars dedicated to non-financial reporting and is a trusted partner that can support organizations to report non-financial information in accordance with the legal requirements.
More information:
Tel. 0738 759 040; 0371 024 168
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