PwC Malaysia’s Corporate Responsibility Report is the first in Malaysia to adopt new G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines

KUALA LUMPUR, 18 June 2014 - PwC Malaysia has just published its 2013 Corporate Responsibility (CR) report “We’re part of it: Creating value through responsible business”. This report is the first in Malaysia to adopt the new G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines according to the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) database.

The CR report highlights how PwC Malaysia creates value for its clients, people and community, reflecting its CR initiatives and achievements over the past year and aspirations for growth and sustainability for its beneficiaries.

The new G4 guidelines enable organisations who measure and report their sustainability performance to produce more focused reporting (issues that matter to the business from a strategic viewpoint) rather than going through a checklist of standard indicators.

As a firm with more than 100 years of history in Malaysia, employing more than 2,000 employees, PwC Malaysia has a vested interest to be transparent about its activities and investments, and how they impact its stakeholders, both internal (the employees) and external (e.g. their customers, investors, regulators, and the community). The G4 guidelines enabled PwC Malaysia to describe in detail the steps taken to identify the issues which qualify as material information (the issues to be prioritised based on how much they are impacted by PwC’s activities) in relation to the varied interests of its multiple stakeholders.

The adoption of these guidelines is a critical part of PwC Malaysia’s Sustainability & Climate Change team’s ongoing efforts to provide integrated services that link sustainability to business value.

Andrew WK Chan, Sustainability & Climate Change Leader for PwC’s South East Asian Consulting services said, “As a trusted business advisor to our clients, it’s necessary for us to walk the talk. The case is clear. We’d be hard pressed to champion sustainability among our clients if we ourselves do not embed sustainability in a strategic manner across our business. We’re on a journey to create shared value for our stakeholders and are putting in place the right frameworks to help us focus our efforts to maximise impact. There are no short cuts to doing this”.

Chin Suit Fang, Markets Leader and Diversity Leader at PwC Malaysia said, “We’re always looking for new ways to energise and encourage our people to embrace corporate responsibility as PwC professionals. We can’t afford to compete exclusively on our services and expertise. Instead, we need to think about how we can be a better corporate citizen in the way we interact with our multiple stakeholders, and how we can use our diversity in ideas, talents and experiences to contribute meaningful results to PwC’s growth”.

The CR report highlights what matters most to PwC Malaysia’s stakeholders, its CR activities and issues of greatest concern to the firm over the past year.

• Responsible business
  PwC Malaysia’s responsibilities extend beyond its firm, clients or people. As a leading edge professional services firm, it is also committed to shaping the development of the markets it is involved in. Many of its partners and directors serve as board members in various professional bodies and industry organisations. They also share their point of views at various forums including local and international industry events, dialogues and also in the media.
  
  
• Supporting diversity and promoting a healthy work-life balance
  As part of efforts to create an inclusive workplace, PwC Malaysia has programmes to give its people the opportunity to balance their work and personal lives. These include Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA), part of PwC Malaysia’s WorkLife Plus Programme (WLPP), and FlexSpace which allows its managers and above to choose where they work from as long as they deliver results.
  
  
• Community engagement
  PwC Malaysia supports communities by creating socio-economic value through the skills and experience of its people, with a focus on education and helping young people achieve their true potential. During the financial year 2013, 24% of its people volunteered for community activities, logging a whopping 17,564 volunteer hours.
  
  
• Environmental stewardship
  PwC Malaysia has been measuring and tracking its carbon footprint in Kuala Lumpur since 2010. Its carbon emissions in 2013 comprising electricity consumption, purchased paper, and employees’ travel, came up to a total of 1.57 tonnes carbon dioxide Equivalent (Co2-e) per capita in FY13, compared to 2.09 tonnes Co2-e per capita in FY10, a reduction of 24.9% on a per capita basis. PwC Malaysia recycles all its paper, reaching almost 8 tonnes in FY13 alone, a 2 fold increase from 4 tonnes in 2010. Proceeds from its recycling activities are channelled into PwC Malaysia’s Fund their Future programme which enables children to go to vocational school and gain valuable skills. The firm will also be using recycled paper for its offer letters to new recruits in FY15 as a start before rolling it out across more functions.

The challenge for PwC Malaysia is to continually ensure that the results of its programmes are sustainable, measurable and relevant to its stakeholders while meeting its business objectives.

ENDS