Businesses need to do more on transparency and corruption risks – study

Irish businesses need to do more to counter corruption-related risks, according to a new study that finds few if any seem to be adequately prepared for such threats.

Transparency International Ireland has compiled what it calls a "national integrity index" that reviews the corporate disclosure practices of 30 leading companies registered or having significant business operations in the State.

The sample, drawn from a cross-section of firms included in The Irish Times Top 1000 Companies list, measures the degree to which private sector companies are prepared to address risks based on the information they disclose to the public.

The results show that although most companies were disclosing anti-corruption and whistleblowing policies, they had disclosed relatively little detail on their corporate structures and their engagement with politicians or public officials, and could share more financial information than they do.

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AIB tops the ranking with a score of 68 per cent. However, no company scores more than 70 per cent, suggesting that all the companies surveyed have work to do both in terms of promoting transparency and addressing corruption-related risks.

DCC was ranked in second place in the study on 63 per cent, with five companies – Bank of Ireland, Irish Life, Kerry, Trane Technologies and Tullow Oil – sharing the third spot with a ranking of 62 per cent.

Ten companies scored full marks in the anti-corruption category, but no company received full points in any of the remaining three categories. The second strongest category was whistleblowing, where the top-performing companies – AIB Group and DCC – scored 90 per cent of the available points and almost half of the companies assessed scored more than 60 per cent.

"Corruption is a barrier to dealing with the world's biggest challenges, including climate change and the recent pandemic. And despite new laws and measures aimed at countering corruption, Irish companies still face corruption risks arising from failures to disclose conflicts of interest or to adequately protect whistleblowers," said Catherine Lawlor, advocacy and research coordinator at Transparency International Ireland and co-editor of the report.

“Surveys have also found that a high proportion of Irish-based executives were prepared to engage in either illegal or unethical conduct to win or retain business. Irish companies should therefore implement tighter internal controls, collect data on and monitor employee attitudes to misconduct and be far more vocal about their commitment to addressing these risks,” she added.

Recommendations

Transparency International Ireland has made a number of recommendations, including urging companies to enhance online disclosure policies and increase levels of transparency around organisational structures and financial information on a country-by-country basis.

It also calls for disclosure of charitable donations and community contributions, a review of whistleblowing polices and the adoption and disclosure of procedures on political engagement. In addition, the organisation urges the sharing of more information regarding whistleblowing reports received and actions taken in response to them.

The companies reviewed in the survey were as follows: Aer Lingus, AIB Group, Allergan, Apple, Applegreen, Bank of Ireland Group, Circle K Ireland, CityJet, CRH, Dawn Meats, DCC, Facebook, Google, Grafton Group, Greencore Group, Mediahuis/Independent News & Media, Intel, Irish Life Group, The Irish Times DAC, Kerry Group, Kingspan Group plc, LinkedIn, Microsoft, MSD, Permanent TSB Group Holdings, Perrigo Company, Pfizer, Ryanair, Trane Technologies and Tullow Oil.

Newspaper publishers The Irish Times DAC and Mediahuis (formerly Independent News and Media) were ranked at the lower end of the list along with Circle K, Dawn Meats and CityJet.