Using Information: A Financial Stakeholders’ Perspective

Complete disclosure is fundamental to ensuring proper and efficient financial transactions. The call for greater levels of disclosure has been a central theme in the socially responsible investment community. However, in today's world, there are differing approaches to the issue of disclosure. On the one hand, there are calls for more disclosure in the wake of debacles such as that illustrated by Enron Corp. On the other hand, there are concerns about security and the possibility that more disclosure might compromise security. What is needed is the identification and exploration of opportunities where the socially responsible investment community collaborates with other stakeholders with the aim of leveraging environmental information to work for positive societal change. In this effort there is a need for new methodologies, new and more sophisticated models with greater predictive power, and increased emphasis on education for the next generation of business leaders.