A study by the KPMG consulting firm released in July shows that social and environmental reports have become more common: 79 per cent of the largest US employers publish these reports, as do 45 per cent of major companies from 22 other selected countries.

‘Reporting is now the norm, not the exception, among the largest companies,’ says the KPMG report, International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2008. Leading nations are Japan with 88 per cent of companies reporting, Britain with 84 per cent, the US with 73 per cent, and Canada and the Netherlands, both with 60 per cent.