Non-financial information disclosure enhances enterprises’ soft power

On December 1, the Panel “Enhancing the Non-financial Information Disclosure” was held in Beijing during the 10th International Conference on CSR Reporting in China. This panel invited five CSR experts from universities and enterprises to share the concepts, management and practice on non-financial information disclosure.
 
➤ Question one: How important for enterprises to disclose non-financial information?
 
Interpret non-financial information disclosure from internal and external perspectives
 
Wen Xuelian, Deputy Manager of Enterprise Division, Department of Development and Strategy, China Mobile, held that, from external perspective, the disclosure of non-financial information enables the stakeholders see the B-side story behind the business model and also is the basic requirement of the society for large SOEs; from internal perspective, the strict and standardized data collection process can help the enterprise find its own problems, challenges, and improved measures, further promoting the corporate sustainable management.
 
Build the soft power of the enterprise
 
Wu Yang, Director of Brand Culture Division, Department of Corporate Culture, China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd (CSCEC) said that, the world - class enterprises possess of strong hard power and soft power, and the non-financial information disclosure shows the soft power of an enterprise. Through continuous non-financial information disclosure, CSCEC has built up a process for itself to “win respect” in corporate image.
 
Include non-financial information disclosure in the daily operation
 
Wu Fushun, CSR Director of Mengniu Dairy, held that non-financial information disclosure is a daily event for Mengniu. Non - financial disclosure tells the story behind every cup of milk that consumers concern vividly, with a variety of forms, such as CSR reporting, investor opening day, and stakeholder communication, so that investors, consumers can have more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the enterprise.
 
Serve as an important measure of economic performance
 
Taking carbon information disclosure as an example, Yang Dongning, Associate Professor of Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, explained that non-financial information disclosure is not only a reflection of the soft power, but also an important tool for the enterprise to measure the business performance. The performance of non-financial information is, to some extent, the financial performance of the enterprise.
 
Provide an important opportunity for corporate development
 
Liu Hui, Deputy General Manager of Greenstone said that non-financial information can affect the decision-making process of investors and accelerate the process of investment decision. It is a positive “huge plus” for the enterprise. At the same time, non-financial information can convey the responsible corporate image to the consumer and this is a positive contribution to the brand competitiveness. In the background of carbon trading, only good management of carbon data and better disclosure of carbon information can lead to effectively carbon assets management, giving full play to the financial role of non-financial information. For enterprises that actively take effective measures, it is also a new development opportunity.
 
➤ Question two: How should enterprises disclose non - financial information?
 
China Mobile: being focused, keeping pace with the times, and ensuring reliability
 
△ China Mobile spent a month on desk research and related investigation in the reporting period to ensure that the content of the report is the core work content of reflecting the enterprise’s operation and development.
 
△ The non-financial information disclosure has changed greatly with the evolution of economic, environmental and social issues, and enterprises should timely follow up the evolution and give an appropriate response.
 
△ China Mobile has invited third parties to carry out independent assurance since 2012 to ensure that the reporting data is highly trustworthy.
 
CSCEC: evidence-based and targeted dissemination
 
△ For CSCEC, evidence-based is the digitalized non-financial information. Since 2012, CSECE became the industry pioneer to develop the social responsibility management system and issued to every line of business, aiming to drive non-financial information disclosure with index support and improve the accuracy of reporting disclosure.
 
△ The dissemination of non-financial data needs to be targeted. CSECE has set up the convergence media platform and has formed the communication process of planning, collecting, editing, publishing, and commenting. It has achieved a better targeted dissemination and improved the value of non-financial information dissemination.
 
Mengniu Dairy: promoting the industrial development and management improvement of the whole industrial chain
 
△ Mengniu actively promoted the construction of industry standards, and transported the successful sustainability experience of Mengniu to the dairy industry. This effort has promoted the establishment of the non-financial information disclosure system in the dairy industry, and will further promote the sustainability capability of dairy industry.
 
△Non-financial information is closely related to the strategic innovation, the innovation of the whole industry chain and the management innovation behind the main business. Mengniu integrates the responsibility into the production of every milk product to meet the nutritional needs of more Chinese people in strategy, develop targeted products and promote the management promotion of the whole industry and meet more stakeholders’ pursuit of a better life with the non-financial information disclosure.
 
➤ Question three: How should large enterprises collect small data?
 
Wu Yang shared how CSECE, a large company with global operation, solves the major challenges in information and data collection. He said that the solution is to lay a better foundation by improving the social responsibility consciousness of the grass-roots subsidiaries and solving problems with the support of platforms. CSCEC leverages the convergence media platform to collect non-financial information and solves the financial data collection by the big data platform. The two platforms helps the precise and accurate collection of accurate data in modern large enterprises.
 
➤ Question four: How should enterprises strengthen carbon information disclosure?
 
Liu Hui, Deputy General Manager of Greenstone, put forward five suggestions on this issue. The first is to establish a perfect management system and designated positions can make the non-financial information collection have rules to follow. The second is to keep high attention to and follow the policy. Enterprises should adjust actively facing the changing policy and capital market demand, retain the core principle and cope with shifting events by sticking to a fundamental principle. The third is to identify and assess the concerns of stakeholders and analyze the real impact of carbon information disclosure on the enterprise, especially what the long-term risk is. With the aid of information tools, the complicated indicators of carbon information disclosure will be more efficient and accurate. The strength of third party assurance can provide continuous improvement suggestions of upgrading for corporate carbon management.
 
In the end, Yang Dongning also added that the non-financial information disclosure needs to be with rich content and sincere attitude. While the attractive social responsibility report can draw stakeholders’ attention, the quality of corporate social responsibility report is also higher.