Corporate Responsibility Reporting at NAB Free Essay Example

Corporate Communication: Corporate Responsibility Reporting at NAB

The recent economic crisis has had dramatic effects on the corporate world as well as the common investors and stakeholders throughout the world. Corporate scandals in the past few years such as Enron, WorldCom, etc. have not only taken away trust from the corporate sector but also yield a system of corporate financial accountability to be deceptive and increased pressures to move for further transparency on in reporting operation of corporates (Suresh, 2006). In response to these, companies throughout the world have been increasing the level of voluntary disclosures, towards the public in general and all stakeholders in particular, about the performance of the organization.

In addition to this increasing transparency towards all stakeholders is deemed to have a highly positive effect on all stakeholders and the company is viewed to be ethical in reporting procedures from the stakeholders’ perspective (Sidaya, 2006). . These stakeholders’ satisfaction is a dominating factor in all corporates including banks, in Australia, and therefore the corporates are required to take good care of that.

As per several research & scholarly studies made in the Australian banking sector, the majority of the banks have identified their customers & employees (both temporary & contractual) as their key stakeholders.

The regulatory authorities & communities are also viewed as stakeholders but have a lower priority. The National Australian Bank goes further ahead in defining its stakeholders and has prioritized the employees, customers, shareholders and the investment community, government, regulators, suppliers, media, unions, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), industry groups and associations, communities and their board of directors as their key stakeholders.

The NAB strongly supports the view that the corporate social responsibility is implicit in creating a value that is sustainable towards its key stakeholders and remains focused in maintaining the level and quality of service to go beyond the expectation of its customers and stakeholders in serving them. As per a general consensus, responsible business should be at the core of a company’s programs and strategies, not a bolt-on to operations. Companies that count as responsible businesses can help to innovate and develop new products and services and access new markets not only to minimize risk. These companies implement initiatives and programs to improve their positive impact and not just minimize their negative impact.

The NAB also contributes into the development of policies and suggesting different studies and solution to a number of socio-economic issues and problems and submits its contributions to the government, industrial organizations, regulatory authorities and a number of other pertinent organizations.

To develop and enhance the positive image of the Corporate Social Responsibility and to check its validity and effectiveness (Adenekan, 2007), NAB periodically takes in feedbacks about their Corporate Responsibility reporting procedures all of its primary as well as secondary stakeholders including its fellow banking corporations, certain performance analysts and other relevant Unions. This feedback serves as the key information to have a cross-check on the validity and usefulness of the reporting procedures. Further, the different domains of interests of the respective stakeholders actually increase to the sophistication of the Corporate Responsibility Reporting effectiveness (Armstrong, 2001). NAB indulges into a number of Corporate Community Investments. They believe that what ever they earn has a rightful share of the society in which they earn and therefore they should attempt to return the share of the society by making such investment into the social welfare.

References

Cuganesan Suresh (2006) Stakeholder Reporting in the Australian Banking Industry. Swinburne University of Technology. Available from <www.econ.usyd.edu.au> [Accessed 28 April, 2009].
Adenekan Samuel Abiola (2007) Putting CSR into perspective. Communication World Journal. Available from < www.entrepreneur.com> [Accessed 28 April, 2009].
Armstrong Anona,   Mitchell Vanessa,   O’Donovan Gary ;   Sweeney Mary (2001) Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal of Banking and Financial Services. Available from ;www.accessmylibrary.com; [Accessed 28 April, 2009].

NAB (2008) Corporate Responsibility Reports. Available from ;www.nabgroup.com; [Accessed 28 April 28, 2009].
5.      Sidaya Angeera (2006) Evaluating Corporate Social Responsibility in the Australian Banking Industry. Available from ;www.vu.edu.au ; [Accessed 28 April, 2009].
Australian Consumer Association (2005), “Bank satisfaction survey”. Australian Choice Magazine. Available from ;www.choice.com.au; [Accessed 28 April, 2009].

IBM (2006), Two-thirds of US Banking Customers Don’t Feel Valued By Their Bank: IBM Study, Available from <www-03.ibm.com> [Accessed 28 April 28, 2009].