Corporate social responsibility ("CSR") is an
important component of overall enterprise risk management for many
companies. That said, too often, corporate implementation of CSR
commitments is reliant upon diverse functions and systems that
may not be all that well coordinated with one another and may
utilize a range of different oversight and accountability
mechanisms.
Too often, assurance of corporate adherence to voluntary
standards may not be well documented, while corporate efforts to
operate consistently with mandatory social and environmental
standards may be viewed with a narrow compliance mindset that fails
to address the concerns of key stakeholders.
Gwen Jaramillo and I recently wrote an
article for Financier
Worldwide magazine that looks at the ways in which
companies are, and should, integrate the efforts of their CSR and
compliance functions. As we note in the article,
