Call to measure corporate disclosure

Freight industry must measure its disclosure of quantifiable results KEVIN MAYHEW ALL LISTED freight and logistics companies’ chief executive officers and executives have been challenged to measure their triple bottom line annual report content against best practice voluntary disclosure which is now taking hold in South Africa and other countries in the region. This challenge came from the CEO of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Southern Africa (ICSA), Chris de Villiers, as part of an ongoing campaign to improve disclosure through its ICSA/JSE/Motiv Annual Report Awards 2005, now into its 55th year of measuring reporting excellence. De Villiers says the sector has to present its quantifiable results from measures to protect the environment (reducing dangerous goods disasters, pollution etc), community (tackling sexually transmitted diseases in drivers, sex workers and communities on highly utilised long-distance routes) and, of course, its overall performance in a very competitive environment. De Villiers added that participation provided the most intensive relevant analysis of the all-round quality of a company’s annual report. This, in turn, is a key document in judging companies and their executives in a changing environment of greater demands for fiduciary prudence and accountability on the part of company directors and board members. The categories (with the winners last year) are: Financial, Insurance and Property Services (Discovery Holdings); JSE Alt X Listed Company (All Joy Foods); Mining and Non-Mining Resources (Anglogold Ashanti Limited); Commercial, IT and Non-Financial Services (Edgars Consolidated Stores); Industrial and Manufacturing (SAPPI). There are awards for Best Sustainable Development Report (Anglo-American Platinum Corporation) and Best Report From A Proudly South African Member (Anglogold Ashanti Limited). Sponsors include: Motiv, Services Seta, JSE Securities Exchange SA and Proudly South African. The freight and logistics sector falls under the Commercial, IT and Non-Financial Services category.