14 November 2019

AMF highlights the importance of successful non-financial communication for issuers

For its new report on the social and environmental responsibility of listed companies, AMF has conducted an analysis of non-financial statements of French companies. To assist them on the way towards sustainable economy, the regulator has set out the key challenges of this non-financial reporting.

In its 2018-2022 strategy, the AMF has made sustainable finance a priority focus for supporting and encouraging the transition of the entire financial system. The quality of environmental and social data, and therefore of the non-financial information provided by listed companies, is a prerequisite for such progress: it is essential for decision-making by investors and then to enable them to monitor their investment policy. For the fourth edition of its report on the social, societal and environmental responsibility of listed companies, the AMF has set itself the objective of supporting companies in preparing their future non-financial statements.

This year, for the first time, companies were obliged to include such a statement of non-financial performance with their management report. The AMF has reviewed the information provided by a sample of 19 companies from the CAC 40 index and five companies from the SBF 120 index in the section dedicated to this statement in their registration document.

With examples to support this, the AMF describes the challenges of high-quality non-financial communication:

structure, concision and overall coherence of the statement;

compliance with the legal provisions concerning the reporting scope, extended where necessary to take into account the specificities of the business model;

information about the process of identifying non-financial issues and risks, and about the time horizon at which these risks may materialise, as well as their possible impacts;

choice of relevant and justified key performance indicators to illustrate the policies implemented;

determination of targets to assess progress made in view of policies implemented.

Full press release

© AMF - Autorité des Marchés Financiers