Corporate Accountability
Categories: Company Management, Regulations
Every election season, some Congressional candidate or Senate candidate barks into the microphone that officials must hold “corporations more accountable to the public.” Those are just code words for more regulations, more political donations, and more grifting.
Corporate accountability...free from government intervention...is a tenant that firms should be held responsible for their decisions and actions, especially non-financial ones that affect more than just their shareholders. These decisions can include matters of social and civic responsibility, their impact on the environment, their impact on competitors and consumers, and the local communities in which they operate.
Holding companies accountable has been a difficult and arbitrary task by regulators. However, firms typically highlight their efforts to be better citizens in their annual financial reports. Some firms are better at it than others.
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Finance: What is an Ethical Fund?22 Views
Finance allah shmoop what is an ethical fund an ethical
fund the political weapon of unsophisticated finance people throwing straw
at brick houses everywhere Well unethical fund is one that
has no ah sin or no investments in what they
perceive as bad things like you know porn google images
and snapchat facebook tobacco philip morris altria arguably the best
investments over the last century Guns and boeing rockwell bomb
gambling a vegas casino caesar's sands yeah that's not really
oil chevron shell bp hollywood it is neat bike on
the other and then there's technology which delivers all of
the above and let's not forget about telecommunications which lets
people converse Teo then deliver all of the above way
Going too far here Yeah and that's the problem with
quote ethical funds unquote healthy ethics are in the eyes
of the beholder Go to a church service in the
deep south and it's likely the congregation will give you
a completely different quote It's ok to invest in unquote
portfolio then what A bunch of hippies in marin county
california So who's to say what is ethical and what
is not Well actually it's the gang marketing the mutual
fund which named itself to be and ethical fund Who
determines what investors would feel good about investing in and
hey that's fine Someday it's him up We want to
start a fund investing on lian companies who are funny
like intentionally funny not like you know g and those
guys Well the problem is that for better or worse
a large portion of the name's actively omitted from the
list of buyable stocks in and ethical fund are often
actually really good Businesses like oil and gas for example
has been a stalwart for a century in the u
s so has tobacco And oh by the way most
technology companies early histories were driven by profits in and
around porn So there is in essence a price that
investors historically seemed to be paying for the privilege of
being all judgy about what ethics are meaning that results
in ethical funds tend to lag their competitors by a
few percent each year and over a couple of decades
While that means that ethical funds end up being worth
a lot less than unfiltered funds their funds who just
are out there trying to make money for shareholders and
then the big question gets asked from the ethically rich
and financially poor from the poor house i shouldn't The
best ethics just revolve around legally producing the best financial
return for investors Know what a concept investing in order 00:02:52.165 --> [endTime] to make more money Who'd a thought