Vodafone Group’s 2008 sustainability report scored top honors in three categories in
CorporateRegister.com’s second annual reporting awards.
The U.K.-based telecommunications company won for best report, relevance and materiality and credibility through assurance. This means that aside from edging out the 54 other reports entered into the awards, the company also stood out for telling stakeholders about the material issues impacting its performance, as well as including detailed third-party assurance of the report’s content to lend it credibility.
CorporateRegister.com has amassed a mammoth database of corporate responsibility reports dating back some 10 years. Over that time, it has created the “5 Cs” to help assess non-financial reports, including content, communication, credibility, commitment and comparability.
CorporateRegister.com invited the more than 2,000 companies that published reports from September 2007 through September 2008 to enter the awards, while its website’s 26,000 registered users were allowed to vote.
The winners and runners-up included:
• Best Report, includes every report submitted to the awards. Winner: Vodafone Group. Runners-up: Coca-Cola Enterprises and Dell Inc.
• Best First Time Report for first non-financial report. Winner: Virgin Media Inc. Runners-up: Deloitte LLP and SolarWorld AG.
• Best SME Report for companies with fewer than 250 employees. Winner: Ecologic Designs Inc. Runners-up: Australian Ethical Investment Ltd. and RecycleBank LLC.
• Best Integrated Report for combining non-financial/financial information. Winner: Novo Nordisk A/S. Runners-up: BASF SE and AXA SA.
• Best Carbon Disclosure for information on policy, data and targets. Winner: Royal Dutch Shell. Runners-up: Bayer AG and Repsol YPF SA.
• Creativity in Communications for creatively engaging reader. Winner: Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. Runners-up: Lego Group and J Sainsbury.
• Relevance and Materiality for relating relevant issues that impact performance. Winner: Vodafone Group. Runners-up: Bayer AG and BP.
• Openness and Honesty for sharing both the good and bad news. Winner: Co-operative Group Ltd. Runners-up: BP and Royal Dutch Shell.
• Credibility through Assurance for separate external assurance section with methodologies, conclusions and recommendations. Winners: Vodafone Group. Runners-up: Royal Dutch Shell and BP.
