Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Murninghan Post, which we’re creating as a gathering place for information, ideas, deliberation, and strategic action on matters pertaining to the reform of our corporate structures and capital markets. The aim is bold but clear: to assist in the transition to a prosperous, sustainable, and just world, in keeping with human and ecological well-being.
How will we do this? On a daily basis, we’ll add a brief post that distills and analyzes the most salient developments in several areas, including:
· trends in corporate and investor reporting;
· Web 2.0 and stakeholder engagement;
· corporate and investor governance and stewardship;
· sustainability ratings;
· innovations in climate policy and finance;
· notable people who are working in these realms; and
· hot topics and horizon issues that warrant our attention.
Each area is part of change that has long been underway. Nowadays, discussions of corporate sustainability and accountability are gaining traction. We see this, for example, in the expansion of disclosure by firms, the interest of large investors in long-term value, and the continued progress of the technical language known as XBRL. Congressional approval of the Dodd-Frank Bill and changes at the SEC (such as the creation of the Investor Advisory Committee) also suggest that individuals and communities are pushing for new ways to gather and apply information.
Finally, the sudden popularity of the idea that financial accounting should merge in some manner with environment, social, and governance disclosure (so called ESG information) into a single integrated report carries important consequences for new organizations and methods of assessment, which we will be tracking closely.
We are rolling this out on a gradual basis, and welcome your feedback and ideas about improvements, topics, features, and other relevant leads.
Who are we at the Murninghan Post? My colleagues at our new consultancy, The Transition Group – Bill Baue, Sonia Hamel, Bob Massie, and Ariane van Buren – and I will be sharing responsibilities for providing ongoing coverage of these areas (and more), drawing upon our years of experience and networks. While I’ll be playing a lead role (with Bill Baue as editor), we all will be providing commentary and insight. Over time, we’ll be inviting those of you with special knowledge to contribute in ways that help advance our larger mission.
Indeed, we view this as a work-in-progress, a form of civic media that bundles information much like a node, to foster wider public awareness, critical reflection, engagement, and social connectivity in the movement toward a better world. We also hope we can stimulate the generation of new knowledge, in service to this aim. In short, the Murninghan Post will be about good citizenship—not only as individual actors, but also collectively, through economic structures and social systems.
Thank you for joining us!
