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One of the big four professional services firms is developing a common framework for its in-house corporate responsibility programmes across almost 150 countries.
KPMG, which has largely autonomous in-house CSR programmes in many of the countries, wants to create a global framework for staff to share information and seek advice from colleagues.
Michael Kelly, CSR director at KPMG, stressed that the emphasis would be on finding common approaches rather than imposing conformity.
‘There’s no place for a one-size-fits-all approach,’ he said, ‘but we did find in a recent survey that there were similarities in many country programmes and in the areas they tackle, even though their focus may be slightly different. The basic premise is that working together is better than working alone, so we’ve started a pilot to try to run CSR across national boundaries.’
The firm has worked on the framework for three months and expects to complete it by the end of this month. ‘We’re reviewing all our programmes to see if there’s any single one we can run across borders, or whether we need to invent a new one,’ said Kelly.
Another option is to focus on the firm’s volunteer programme, which already has some cross-border links via the Engage volunteering project set up by the International Business Leaders’ Forum (EP4, issue 6, p12).
KPMG’s UK practice is generally more advanced on CSR issues, but the firm stresses there is no question of asking other practices merely to follow its lead. ‘It’s not so much about exporting UK practice as sharing what we think will work elsewhere,’ said Kelly. ‘Lots of the practices will face the same issues, so it makes sense to share information. But we’re nervous about anything that smacks of enforcement, and we have to be sensitive. That means progress may be slower than we would like.’ The professional services firm operates in 148 countries.
There has already been some cross-fertilization of business responsibility programmes in Spain and the UK, and a member of staff based in Spain has been seconded to London for six months.
The Spanish practice is one of a handful – those in India, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa and the US are others – where KPMG sees particular opportunities to build on local interest.
Much of the work involves lending staff with project management experience to civil society groups. In the UK, the 9000 staff are allowed half a day’s paid leave each month for volunteer work in the community.
KPMG says CSR has become increasingly important in its recruitment of high-calibre staff, as ‘most graduates put CSR issues near the top of their list when choosing which accountancy firm they want to work for’. KPMG was ranked 37th in the 2004 Corporate Responsibility Index published by Business in the Community, comfortably ahead of Deloitte (61st) and PwC (63rd). Ernst & Young took part but were not in the top 100 participants whose rankings are made public.
KPMG, which has largely autonomous in-house CSR programmes in many of the countries, wants to create a global framework for staff to share information and seek advice from colleagues.
Michael Kelly, CSR director at KPMG, stressed that the emphasis would be on finding common approaches rather than imposing conformity.
‘There’s no place for a one-size-fits-all approach,’ he said, ‘but we did find in a recent survey that there were similarities in many country programmes and in the areas they tackle, even though their focus may be slightly different. The basic premise is that working together is better than working alone, so we’ve started a pilot to try to run CSR across national boundaries.’
The firm has worked on the framework for three months and expects to complete it by the end of this month. ‘We’re reviewing all our programmes to see if there’s any single one we can run across borders, or whether we need to invent a new one,’ said Kelly.
Another option is to focus on the firm’s volunteer programme, which already has some cross-border links via the Engage volunteering project set up by the International Business Leaders’ Forum (EP4, issue 6, p12).
KPMG’s UK practice is generally more advanced on CSR issues, but the firm stresses there is no question of asking other practices merely to follow its lead. ‘It’s not so much about exporting UK practice as sharing what we think will work elsewhere,’ said Kelly. ‘Lots of the practices will face the same issues, so it makes sense to share information. But we’re nervous about anything that smacks of enforcement, and we have to be sensitive. That means progress may be slower than we would like.’ The professional services firm operates in 148 countries.
There has already been some cross-fertilization of business responsibility programmes in Spain and the UK, and a member of staff based in Spain has been seconded to London for six months.
The Spanish practice is one of a handful – those in India, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa and the US are others – where KPMG sees particular opportunities to build on local interest.
Much of the work involves lending staff with project management experience to civil society groups. In the UK, the 9000 staff are allowed half a day’s paid leave each month for volunteer work in the community.
KPMG says CSR has become increasingly important in its recruitment of high-calibre staff, as ‘most graduates put CSR issues near the top of their list when choosing which accountancy firm they want to work for’. KPMG was ranked 37th in the 2004 Corporate Responsibility Index published by Business in the Community, comfortably ahead of Deloitte (61st) and PwC (63rd). Ernst & Young took part but were not in the top 100 participants whose rankings are made public.
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