The company's operational standards and business procedures are discussed in the governance section. The following government issues may be addressed while analyzing a firm include:
- Accounting standards and tax strategies
- Anti-corruption and transparency
- Board and staff diversity
- Corruption and Bribery
- Employee and executive compensation
- Ethics and values
- Fraud
- Lobbying
- Shareholder rights
- Whistleblower disposition
Does your organization's management and board of directors encourage positive attributes? How does the company's executive staff and board guide positive change? Governance can include but not limited to issues pertaining to lack of diversity in leadership, interaction between leadership and shareholders, as well as managerial pay.
According to 91% of investment businesses, governance has the biggest influence on investment choices (among ESG factors). - Russell Investments 2018 ESG Survey
2018 ESG Manager Survey | Russell Investments. (n.d.). 2018 ESG Manager Survey | Russell Investments. Retrieved September 5, 2022, from https://russellinvestments.com/us/blog/2018-esg-survey
In 2018, the percentage of ESG considerations in the decision-making process for investments nearly quadrupled to 43%. - Callen Institute, 2018 ESG survey of 89 unique institutional U.S. funds
Callan 2021 ESG Survey Findings. (2021, November 5). Callan. https://www.callan.com/blog-archive/2021-esg-survey/