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“Excuse me, Sir, can I help you?” said a heavily armed guard to the First Deputy Comptroller from the City of New York when he went out of bounds in Windsor Castle on his early morning run. “I’d have been dead on the spot in New York City!” he told fellow participants later in the day, illustrating how risky crossing national and cultural boundaries can sometimes be, even when you speak the same language. How much more difficult for companies and their financial advisers as they try to create financial value in a totally new context.

The challenge for the Foundation’s Ninth Consultation, put together by the Council on Economic Priorities (CEP) with the National Provident Institution (NPI) Global Care, was to link business benefits and social investment – and to identify some practical tools that investment managers could use to build social and environmental analysis into investment decisions.

Corporate values count

Among the key conclusions:

• Companies should define their values not only in terms of financial success, but also in relation to sustainable development targets.
• Board level commitment to the relevant values, with responsibilities clearly identified, is crucial.
• Company Boards should be accountable to all their company’s stakeholders, not just shareholders.
• Companies should report regularly on financial, social and environmental performance in a comprehensive and verifiable manner.
• Companies and their shareholders should identify their key social impacts as both risks and opportunities.

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