KPMG’s report on responsible business

KPMG Czech Republic has issued its second annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) report, which summarizes information about its sustainability strategy and related achievements for the past year.

Last year, with its first CSR report, KPMG came second in the CSR Reporting category of the TOP Responsible Firm competition, which is organised by Business for Society, an association of socially responsible firms. This year, KPMG decided to present its report in a unique way: the CSR report, entitled Our Path to Sustainability, is web-based and interactive, enabling readers to focus on the information that they find interesting.

The purpose of the report is to openly communicate with clients, employees and other stakeholders about the firm’s activities and their impact on society, the economy and the environment. CSR is part of KPMG’s corporate culture, values and business strategy. The firm cares about what is going on around it, acts ethically and transparently, minimises the impact of its business on the environment, and uses the expertise of its employees to help the communities in which it operates.

KPMG also tries to help its clients pursue sustainability by offering them sustainability advisory – i.e. services that may support their business. Sustainability is increasingly important for firms for the following reasons:

• Financial markets are becoming ever more interested in social, environmental and ethical issues.
• The cost of tackling climate change is increasing (e.g. the cost of CO₂/NO_x emissions and their reduction).
• CSR plays an increasingly important role in winning public and private contracts.
• CSR drives innovation and competitive advantages.
• CSR attracts the media’s attention, opens up new possibilities for marketing communication and helps boost brand loyalty.

2014, on which the current report focuses, was a successful year for KPMG in terms of CSR. The firm trained many non-profit organisations in subjects that are essential to them, and used a new professional volunteering initiative to increase the community engagement of its employees. In the future, in addition to its established programmes, it plans to focus on measuring the impact of its business on the economy, society and the environment using the True Value methodology. It also wants to increase its support for diversity and provide more opportunities to non-profit organisations and social enterprises seeking to become the firm’s suppliers.

You can view KPMG’s CSR report at www.cestakudrzitelnosti.cz/en.