About CPA Australia's Confidence in Corporate Reporting Survey
CPA Australias fifth annual Confidence in Corporate Reporting Survey surveyed 300 members of the public, including 69 shareholders, along with 200 directors/CEOs/CFOs (termed business leaders in the report) and 150 analysts/financial advisers/brokers (termed finance professionals), during September 2006.
The survey was commissioned by CPA Australia and undertaken by Worthington Di Marzio Research, an independent research organisation. Copies of the CPA Australias Confidence in Corporate Reporting Survey 2006 along with detailed findings and media releases for previous years surveys are available from the Surveys & Research section of the website.
The annual survey captured the publics perceptions on six broad areas including:
confidence in Australian corporations, local and overseas share markets, superannuation, and investments compared with a year ago
performance and integrity of business leaders, regulators, financial planners, and accountants
adequacy and sources of retirement savings, along with the publics views on who is responsible for safeguarding these savings
the complexity and credibility of superannuation fund reporting, along with readership habits
the potential for superannuation funds to influence broader community interests. These include improved corporate governance and CSR practices from companies they invest in, as well as providing a potential source of capital for social and economic infrastructure and innovation through research and development
prospects for socially responsible investing
Key findings
29% of Australians indicated increased confidence in their superannuation and 31% indicated increased confidence in their own investments compared with a year ago. These levels were well above major Australian corporations (6% increase and 33% decrease), Australian share market (16% increase) and overseas share markets (11% increase) suggesting Australians are more likely to have increased confidence in their immediate investment decisions than the more general categories.
45% of the Australian public believes that directors performance is worse than two to three years ago, and 43% say CEOs performance is worse.
28% of Australians believe the performance of financial planners had improved over the past two to three years. This was significantly greater than for any of the other professional roles included in the survey.
41% of Australians are not confident they will have adequate savings to fund their retirement, and this rises to nearly 60% for women aged 40 to 55 years, but drops to 30% for shareholders.
34% of Australians expect compulsory superannuation, and 21% expect voluntary superannuation to be their primary source of funds in retirement. Financial advisers expect these sources to be the primary source of retirement funds for 74% of their clients.
89% of Australians believe they are responsible to a large or some degree for safeguarding their retirement savings.
60% of financial advisers believe they are largely responsible for safeguarding the retirement saving of their clients, but only 26% of the public concur.
51% of Australians believe superannuation fund annual reports are too complex to be useful. However, only 34% believe the reports are just another piece of fund marketing. These results are more positive than for company annual reports which were surveyed in 2002.
90% of Australians believe the role of a superannuation fund is to protect the savings of members, but nearly two-thirds would like to see superannuation funds encourage better corporate governance practices and better social and environmental practices from the companies they invest in.
63% of Australians believe superannuation funds should be required to invest in research and development into sustainable energy and technologies. Support was not as strong for requiring superannuation funds to invest in social infrastructure (e.g. schools and hospitals), economic infrastructure (e.g. roads and ports) and R&D in general.
62% of financial advisers expect their clients interest in SRIs to increase over the next five years, with 35% expecting to see their clients investing more of their superannuation into SRIs.
The Confidence in Corporate Reporting Survey 2006 provides a further important perspective to the wider range of work CPA Australia is undertaking in the broad areas of financial reporting, superannuation, financial planning, and sustainability.
Further information
view the Confidence in Corporate Reporting Survey 2006 detailed findings
index of 2002-2006 Confidence in Corporate Reporting Surveys
view the Confidence in Corporate Reporting Survey 2006 media releases
This page is available online at:
http://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/cps/rde/xchg/cpa/hs.xsl/14131_9181_ENA_HTML.htm
