AccountAbility and Utopies are pleased to announce the launch of the first Stakeholder Panel report:

“Critical Friends: The emerging role of stakeholder panels in corporate governance, reporting and assurance”

Paris, March 8th, EDF’Foundation, Espace EDF Electra
6 Rue Récamier, 75007, 1st floor - Métro Sèvre-Babylone

Why should companies engage with their stakeholders? How is a Stakeholder Panel built? What are the key factors of success? What does the future hold for Stakeholder Panels? An answer to these questions is suggested in the new report published by AccountAbility and Utopies following twelve months of research.

The report examines the experiences of a number of leading companies that have convened Stakeholder Panels – including Areva, BT, BP, EDF, Camelot, Gaz de France, Ford, Nike and Vodafone, and draws on in depth interviews with both company practitioners and panel members.

“This report provides a valuable overview of the way stakeholder panels work and succeed in a variety of organizations. It gives advice to practitioners who consider setting up panels in their organization and contributes to thought leadership in this area”. Anne Pattberg, Camelot Group plc, Corporate Responsibility Manager.

Since AccountAbility’s CEO Simon Zadek convened the first stakeholder panel in 1995, The Body Shop’s Social Audit Panel, there has been growing interest in and experimentation with panels of various sorts and with various purposes.

“The increasing use of panels has made it important to understand what successful panels look like and how they can contribute to better corporate governance, reporting and accountability” Alan Knight, AccountAbility Head of Standards and Related Services, says.

This report provides a detailed analysis of what makes Stakeholder Panels work and a framework for building successful panels.

For more information on the Report or for the Program for the launch event, please contact:
Fernanda Polacow - Membership and Communications Team Advisor
Email: fernanda@accountability21.net
Tel.: 0044 (0)20 7549 0400

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AccountAbility is an international non-profit organization dedicated to promoting accountability innovations that enable individuals, institutions and alliances to respond better to global challenges. www.accountability21.net

Utopies is the leading French consulting and think tank on corporate responsibility and sustainability. The work focuses on embedding sustainability in business strategy, for both small social enterprises and mainstream international groups. www.utopies.com