Transparency International released its study on disclosure practices of 100 emerging market multinationals (EMM) headquarters in 15 countries and active in 185 countries after their first study in 2013. Disappointingly, EMMs’ disclosures remain weak with overall average score of 3.4 out of 10, weaker performance than in 2013. The result shows EMMs must RAISE THE BAR on their transparency performance if they are to do business competitively in a global marketplace.
PETRONAS, the only company in Malaysia featured in the study ranked number nine among 100 largest EMMs. TI-M lauds the outstanding voluntary disclosure of PETRONAS in both organizational transparency and reporting on anti-corruption programme and achieved as the best corporate reporting state-owned enterprise in emerging market.
The report further revealed 31 out of 100 large emerging market companies are doing business in Malaysia, 14 companies from China, 9 from India, 2 from Thailand and South Africa, and each from Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and Egypt. Among these, 26 companies do not publish a policy prohibiting facilitation payments and 22 companies do not disclose tax payments. For country paper, please read pdf file.
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
TO COMPANIES
- Develop best-in-class anti-corruption programmes as a protection against the risk of bribery and corruption, including a zero-tolerance policy towards facilitation payments.
- Apply the programme to agents or others acting on companies’ behalf, as well as to the company’s suppliers.
- Publish all elements of the anti-corruption programme on an unrestricted corporate website that is available in at least one international language.
- Strengthen voluntary reporting practices on country-specific financial data.
TO GOVERNMENTS
- Implement strong anti-bribery laws and provide the necessary resources to enforce them. Stricter legislation can effectively raise the bar for corporate transparency, both at home and abroad.
- Require companies to disclose their corporate structures beyond material holdings and to publish financial accounts on a country-by-country basis.
Read more at:
https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/emerging_markets_pathetic_transparency
