Compliance Monitoring

When companies sign up to international standards like the United Nations’ Global Compact, it may be a good indication of their commitment to live up to those standards. However, it is also possible that companies join such standards for purely marketing purposes without actually aligning their business practices to the standard.

In order to monitor whether companies are really “walking the talk,” investors need to track how well companies are living up to the standards. This type of monitoring must look at both qualitative factors like the existence of policies as well as quantitative factors. In addition, investors need to be monitor and evaluate any controversies relating to such international standards that companies may be involved in.