National Australia Bank Limited and Australia & New Zealand Banking Corporate Social Responsibility - Case Study Example

Table of Contents Introduction 2 Basic Information about banks 2 ANZ & NAB Stakeholders 3 ANZ & NAB Corporate Social Responsibility Report 3 Social & Environmental Issues disclosed by ANZ & NAB 4 Issues not identified by GRI 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction Increasing regulations which are aimed at ensuring that overall effectiveness can be gained has increased the importance of being ethical and adhering to the different statutory requirements. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) which has been adapted from the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) looks to fill up the gap which exists so that better sustainability can be ensured in the financial reports which are published. This report analyzes the two different organizations from the banking sector in Australia to find out the manner in which GRI requirements have been achieved using the G3 framework and the manner in which sustainability has been achieved. To carry out the study National Australia Bank Limited and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited have been selected. The report will make a comparison between the above two stated banks and will bring forward the different areas where both the bank have ensured there adherence to the GRI Index and G3 framework and the areas where they are lacking after identifying the potential stakeholders. This will thereby help to understand the strength of the sustainability report and will help to bring forward the different areas which have to be improved for better performance. Basic Information about banks Australia Bank Limited and Australia (ANZ) & New Zealand Banking Group Limited (NAB) are banks which work in the service sector in Australia and have looked towards dealing in different products and services which have increased their presence all over the region. The bank has looked towards adhering to the G3 guidelines and has taken steps to ensure that the sustainability report is prepared according to the GRI guidelines. This will help the stakeholders to understand about the banking sector in a better manner and will help to help to bring forward the different areas which have to be improved for better functioning and will determine the process through which service quality will improve. ANZ & NAB Stakeholders Australia Bank Limited and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited both work in the same sector i.e. banking has looked towards identifying the different stakeholders which includes society, industry, government, consumers, employees and the shareholders. Both the banks have relied on services to develop the required relationship with the customer by focusing on understanding the needs and requirements of the stakeholders and developing their services accordingly so that maximum satisfaction for the stakeholders becomes possible (Clarkson, Li, Richardson & Vasvari, 2008). This has helped both Australia Bank Limited and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited to ensure that they develop the sustainability report which highlights the different areas where they have adhered to the GRI guidelines and have followed the G3 framework so that the stakeholders are able to understand the entire scenario properly. Both the organization have provided a corporate social responsibility report to find out the manner in which the different aspect of sustainability have been achieved so that the stakeholders are able to identify and understand the different aspects clearly (Pedrini, 2007). ANZ & NAB Corporate Social Responsibility Report Australia Bank Limited and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited have provided the different disclosures which ensure that the sustainability report is as per the GRI guidelines and follows the G3 framework so that better transparency and honesty can be maintained with the stakeholders. Identifying the different areas and highlighting the same has ensured that both Australia Bank Limited and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited works according to the B level of reporting thereby highlighting the low level of disclosure being followed by the banks and is as follows Application GRI Content Company Level Verification Country Industry Australia Limited Bank B+ Third-party-checked Australia Financial Services Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited B Self-declared Australia Financial Services Given the rationale for different level of reporting it is expected that both Australia Bank Limited and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited will look to provide more financial and non financial information so that the stakeholders are able to understand the sustainability index better and take decisions based on it. Both the banks have provided different information which will help to understand the importance of the different corporate and social responsibility and while looking to provide more information care has been taken to adhere to the guidelines so that the voluntary disclosure principle which is required to be adopted by the organization provides maximum information to the different stakeholders. Social & Environmental Issues disclosed by ANZ & NAB Australia Bank Limited has provided maximum information and disclosure pertaining to the environment which has thereby ensures that Australia Bank Limited provides twice as many information on many of the G3 environmental indicators as compared to other core indicators in the GRI. In addition to it Australia Bank Limited has also provided information pertaining to Labor Practices & Decent Work in the GRI which will help to understand the different framework which has been achieved through the different information which has been disclosed (NAB, 2013). Further, Australia Bank Limited reports have disclosed on 3 of the 8 core disclosure and there don’t seen to be any unusual indicators which have been highlighted in the sustainability report Australia Bank Limited has looked to provide disclosure on 3 dimensions which includes microfinance, financial education, and the environment which includes the steps taken by them to deal with the different environmental changes. The information has been provided through narratives so that the disclosures are clear and provides the stakeholders maximum information. Given the flexibility under the GRI guidelines and G3 framework Australia Bank Limited have worked according to the B level guidelines and need to further improve the different disclosure to become more effective. Looking on the whole Australia Bank Limited provides information on 40% of the 50 core performance indicators which has been developed by the GRI’s G3 framework (NAB, 2013). Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited has looked towards being more descriptive and has provided information on all the 8 core indicators but has been done partially. This has helped them to receive a better reporting standard of B+ but still has to further improve the disclosure. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited has also provided information pertaining to Labor Practices & Decent Work in the GRI which will help to understand the manner in which the organization deals with the employees and the different directives that have been taken in the direction can be better understood (ANZ, 2013). Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited has further provided disclosure in the form of small case studies which helps to understand the different steps which have been taken and the manner in which changes have been made to benefit the society and the stakeholders. Of the different core indicators Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited has provided information on 8 core indicators and the overall outlook for Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited suggest that it has provided information on 50% of the 50 core performance indicators which has been developed by the GRI’s G3 framework (ANZ, 2013) Issues not identified by GRI The GRI table for both Australia Bank Limited and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited shows that certain areas haven’t been addressed and are of prime importance to develop the sustainability index and are as follows Australia Bank Limited has not looked to disclose many of the different GRI core activities and has done some of them partially which is an area that requires improvement. The GRI table for Australia Bank Limited shows that no or limited information has been provided in relation to Total workforce by employment type, employment contract, and region; Total number and rate of employee turnover; Benefits provided to full-time employees that are not provided to part-time employees; injuries; and ratio of salary of men to women (NAB, 2013). Disclosing the above stated points would further help to improve the overall sustainability index and will further requires that the different core indicators which have been partially provided with the basic information is supplied with all the information Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited on the other hand have provided more disclosure but need to provide more disclosure pertaining to Total number and rate of employee turnover; injuries; ratio of salary of men to women; and areas of human rights where no description has been provided in the report (ANZ, 2013). This has to be matched by additional disclosure pertaining to the role of leadership in human rights initiative will help to understand the impact on human and the business and will provide the necessary framework through which better disclosures will be possible. Conclusion The report thereby examines the sustainability of report for Australia Bank Limited and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited which works in the same sector. The analysis shows that Australia Bank Limited has achieved a level B reporting whereas Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited has achieved a level B+ reporting. There are sepcific areas related to human rights and employees where both Australia Bank Limited and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Limited have to provide better disclosure and look towards improving their sustainability report by providing more information to the stakeholders. References NAB. (2013). Australia Bank Limited. Retrieved on May 14, 2013 from http://www.nab.com.au/ ANZ. (2013). Australia & NewZealand Banking Group Limited. Retrieved on May 14, 2013 from http://www.anz.com/personal/ Clarkson, P.M., Y. Li, G. D. Richardson & F. P. Vasvari (2008). Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: an empirical analysis. Accounting, Organizations and Society. 33 (4-5), 303-327 Pedrini, M. (2007). Human capital convergences in intellectual capital and sustainability reports. Journal of Intellectual Capital. 8 (2); 346 Read More