“2015 CPA-Zicklin Index Expands to Cover S&P 500; Shows Steady Growth in Publicly Held Companies Adopting Political Disclosure, Restricting Spending”

Release:

More of America’s largest publicly traded companies are bringing sunlight to their corporate expenditures on politics, the fifth annual CPA-Zicklin Index of Political Disclosure and Accountability shows on the eve of a blockbuster election year for political spending.

For the first time, the 2015 CPA-Zicklin Index has been expanded to measure the transparency policies and practices of the entire S&P 500. The 2015 Index reveals that:

  • companies studied by previous Indexes have shown steady improvement;
  • those companies that reached agreements after engagement by shareholders received sharply higher scores;
  • 25 percent of companies place some type of restriction on their political spending; and
  • almost nine out of 10 companies recognize the importance of adopting political spending policies.

The Index was released today by the Center for Political Accountability in conjunction with the Carol and Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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