Financial Transparency Coalition

In November 2010, the European Commission (EC) opened a public consultation to “seek stakeholders’ views on financial reporting on a country-by-country basis by Multinational Companies (MNCs).” Country-by-country reporting standards would require that MNCs provide information on the profits earned and taxes paid in each of the countries where they operate. Eurodad and other civil society organisations believe that such reporting standards would enhance financial transparency and would provide crucial information needed by developing countries to enhance collection of taxes on the profits made by companies in their countries. While several NGOs, including Eurodad, contributed to the public consultation with a...

WASHINGTON, DC—A unique coalition of asset management firms and civil society organizations issued a statement today committing to call on governments and relevant multilateral institutions to establish a country-by-country financial reporting standard for multinational corporations. The “New Haven Declaration on Corporate Financial Transparency” establishes links between corporate accountability, business practices, and economic development and poverty alleviation. New Haven statement signatories include groups like Trillium Asset Management and Wealth for the Common Good and represent $20 billion in combined assets under management.

The European Union is undertaking a consultation on country-by-country reporting, the closing date for submissions being 22 December. At their request I have prepared a quite lengthy submission which elaborates and advances the case for country-by-country reporting by multinational corporations in a number of significant ways. This has been published by the Tax Justice Network: As the summary says:

This report is a full response to the questions posed by the European Commission in public consultation on country-by-country reporting by multinational companies, published in October 2010. The submission elaborates the summary responses posted on line to the European...

International consensus on almost any policy usually happens step by (excruciating) step. Even reforms that seem obvious in retrospect, like the international laws with respect to bribery and foreign corruption, are initiated by a pioneer (in this case the U.S. in 1977), but take years or even decades for the international community to follow suit. One poignant example is the case of women’s suffrage, which originated in France in the late 1700s, but didn’t take its first big step until the early 1900s, when Australia and Finland granted their citizens universal suffrage. Even with these early...