Projet 2
La comptabilité sociale pour l'investissement des caisses de retraite

Description

Les chercheurs universitaires impliqués dans ce projet travailleront en collaboration avec les partis clés impliqués d'un investissement économiquement ciblé (EEC) ainsi qu'avec des partenaires syndicaux afin de développer un modèle de comptabilité qui tiendra compte de l'impact financier et social des investissement économiquement ciblés effectués par les gestionnaires des régimes de retraite. Cette étude prend en considération des modèles de comptabilité sociale déjà existants et se concentre en premier lieu sur quatre domaines: les standards de travail, la qualité des biens et des services, l'environnement, et le développement des communautés. Ce modèle comprendra quatre stages. Premièrement, une liste d'indicateurs sera développée et évaluée. Deuxièmement, les indicateurs les plus appropriés seront incorporés dans le modèle de comptabilité sociale. Troisièmement, le modèle ainsi développé sera évalué avec un échantillon de membres de comité de retraite nommés par des syndicats, des leaders syndicaux qui sont impliqués dans les questions entourants les régimes de retraite, ainsi que d'autres parties impliqués. Les commentaires de ces personnes seront utilisés pour améliorer le modèle. Finalement, le processus lui-même sera analysé. Du projet découlera le modèle de comptabilité, des publications dans des périodiques, ainsi qu'un module d'éducation.

Pour plus d'informations, veuillez contacter Laurie Mook: lmook@oise.utoronto.ca

Outputs

Papiers

"Developing a Social Accounting Framework for Economically Targeted Investments" by Laurie Mook. Ontario Institute for Studies in Educaton, University of Toronto.

Présentations d'Universitaire

Laurie Mook - "Social Accounting for Economically Targeted Investments: The Expanded Value Added Statement". 14 octobre 2005. Conférence Des régimes de retraite qui travaillent pour nous, Toronto, Canada.

Laurie Mook - "Developing a Social Accounting Framework for Economically Targeted Investments". 17 octobre 2004. Conférence Des régimes de retraite qui travaillent pour nous, Winnipeg, Canada.

Bibliographie

This is a doctoral thesis which examines the feasibility for pension fund investments that occur in the inner-city. Two opposing views on the most beneficial or prudent approach to invest pension funds are studied to assess their compatibility or conflict with inner-city investment strategies. A benefit-cost model developed by the University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Urban Economic Development (UICUED) is used to determine whether benefit-cost methodology could measure economic performance of pension investments. In particular, four AFL-CIO projects which use pension funds for economic purposes in urban communities are analyzed using the UICUED model to assess potential benefits each AFL-CIO investment would provide to Chicago's inner-city residents and to the City of Chicago. The findings reveal that benefit cost methodology could be used to measure quantitative and other corollary benefits produced when pension funds invest in local projects, and that pension funds could be prudently invested in inner-city projects. The findings also reveal the need for criteria and guidelines to increase the flow of pension investments into the inner city. In the end, the author offers a set of recommendations to develop a new paradigm to improve efficiency and effectiveness of pension fund investment to maximize financial and economic returns for all pension fund stakeholders, including the inner-city.

This article explores the issue around socially responsible investing (SRI) regarding whether SRI outperforms or underperforms "conventional" (non-SRI) investing in a Canadian context. In doing so, the authors test whether there is a statistically significant difference between the performance of SRI-based investing and conventional (non-SRI) investing (as proxied by the benchmark, described below) in the Canadian market. In assessing the performance of SRI, they examine the performance of Canadian SRI mutual funds. The findings indicate that underperformance of most of the SRI mutual funds relative to the benchmark, but lower risk exposure. However, in all cases, any underperformance is not statistically significant (at the 95% confidence level). The performance exception is the Investors Summa fund, for which all statistics indicate outperformance. The finding leads the authors to assume that the average conventional domestic equity mutual fund performance is similar to the overall market performance. Hence, they suggest that since there is no difference in financial performance, those who engage in SRI are in fact better off. The empirical study introduces some rigour into the evaluation of the performance of Canadian SRI mutual funds by examining their returns with some well-recognized performance metrics and statistical tests, as opposed to simply examining gross returns.

This study undertook the task of reviewing literature and studies that examined the relationship between corporate social responsibility and profitability. As a result of their findings, the authors designed a forced-choice instrument based on Carroll’s construct (1979), which was tested for content validity and reliability, in an effort to eliminate the biases found in other studies. The methodological improvements in the study were not able to establish a positive correlation between corporate social responsibility and profitability. The authors conclude that some of the more intangible benefits of corporate social responsibility might be better studied with qualitative methods.

This chapter describes the role of pension funds in capital markets and promising development in economically targeted investments (ETIS). The authors make policy recommendations for the federal government of the U. S as well as they encourage the maturation and fine-tuning of economically targeted investments on the state and local levels. In addition, they propose four regulatory changes,1) Mandate participant representation on corporate pension fund boards; 2) Provide strong incentives for long-term investing by taxing pension funds’ short-term gains and providing credits for long-term holdings; 3) Develop rules and safe-harbor guidelines that encourage job-creating pension investments; 4) Via the Department of Labour, develop an intermediary, “broker” unit to make information available to pension fund managers about investment projects that promote long-term development. The authors believe that these changes would encourage fiduciaries both to develop a whole-participant, life-cycle portfolio strategy and to help move capital markets away from a short-term investment mentality. This chapter, together the book, offers an insightful analysis of one of the most fundamental, urgent problems of today. The information, analysis, and suggestion on policies are the timely and provocative ideals on investing in America.

This article investigates accounting techniques that may influence the socio-economic investment decision of potential users. It reports a field experiment undertaken to examine whether the investment decision by an external user would be made differently with the addition of socio-economic accounting information. In particular, the researcher explores the effects and interactions of three factors: subject type, accounting treatment of socio-economic accounting information, and investment strategies. In pursuing these issues and questions, the researcher introduces the linguistic relativity paradigm as the theoretical foundation a to motivate the question of interest in this study. The statistical analyses indicate the significant interaction effects between the three examined factors. In addition, investment for capital gains and membership to the banking profession appears most associated with the use of the socio-economic accounting information. The findings attest to the general relevance of socio-economic accounting information for the bankers under any investment strategy, and for the accountants only under an investment strategy focusing on capital gains.

This is a foreword article of the book, Money on the Line: Workers’ Capital in Canada, edited by Isla Carmichael and Jack Quarter. In this article, the author draws attention to the idea that the trade union movement is responsible for our members’ retirement incomes in almost everything we do. Based on this idea, Brown provides account of the union role in joint trusteeship of pension plans. The author suggests that three areas deserve efforts. First is the use of ethical screen. Second is the necessity of the exercise of shareholdings’ votes for company policies. Third is to provide not only workers with returns on their pension fund investment, but also provide what are known as “collateral benefits.” To achieve this goal, the author suggests that members in the union and trustees sit on pension boards that are responsible for employees’ pension money need to establish clear objectives, in terms of what they want as a movement, what they want in the area of pension funds must be both transparent and consistent with they broader objectives. These require members to clearly understand their responsibilities, strengths, and limits as well as multiple perspectives and analyses of pension plans. To this end, the author emphasizes that ethical investment is actually better investment by the rules of maximum return, suggesting that a joint trusteeship is the best way to serve the interests of employees.

This book is concerned with the theory and practice of social investment as a profession. Bruyn interprets the meaning of social investment, describes current investment practices, and proposes a theory of social investment based on these practices. In addition, Bruyn reviews empirical studies supporting new directions in investment policies, and shows how they affect developing countries. He also provides guidelines for fiduciaries, based on the best available knowledge of corporate behavior, and presents researchers with key hypotheses to follow in gathering data for the evaluation of social investment norms. The study uniquely offers a basis for defining social investment as a field of knowledge, and will interest all readers concerned with its practice or analysis.

This is a research report examining issues pertaining to the financing of Canadian high value-added investment. It traces the evolution of international models of investment and financing that involve unions and workers. Meanwhile, this research concentrates on the identification of the common institutional features shared by labour-sponsored investment funds - providing data about mandates and investment standards, illustrations of related programs and activity, and documented evidence of performance - the research also suggests specific matters that merit further research. The report concludes with the suggestion that as the targets of significant public treasury dollars, labour-sponsored funds should be subject to close observation and assessment based on the ten salient qualities outlined in the preceding.

This paper reports the research study investigating the role of pension funds in two key private capital markets - institutional venture capital and the middle market - as well as the low-capitalization end of public securities exchanges. It looks at pension participation in real estate and infrastructure investing. Statistical analyses indicate the increasing investment power of Canada’s public sector pension funds in these domains. In addition, based on research and interviews, the report offers a list of fourteen barriers that was submitted as a survey to the membership of Pension Investment Association of Canada (PIAC) in 1998. It also provides strategic ways for overcoming barriers in the United States where there is extensive pension participation in the middle and venture capital markets. It is concluded that development of marketplace infrastructure is vital to facilitating pension supply.

This report provides profiles of investment programs developed in Canada and the UnitedStates which have embarked on private investment activity, by directly addressing structural barriers – and with the additional caveat of targeting specific economic outcomes. Each case shows that the collateral benefit objectives of activity have been clearly expressed by key informants as ancillary to the pursuit of risk-adjusted returns, according to marketplace benchmarks established for distinct asset classes. Meanwhile, as illustrated by the examples profiled in this report, targeted investing may bring optimal returns to institutional investors. Such investments may contribute to bridging financing gaps that hinder the growth of small companies in technology sectors. This implicates that that the considerable assets of large institutional investors can be directed strategically so as to bring specific benefits to targeted communities, populations and economic sectors. The report suggests the idea that the successful targeted program can be seen as both a financial instrument that achieves market-grade returns and as a tool of social and economic development.

This book presents the papers that focus on union-based pension funds and labour-sponsored investment funds in Canadian contexts. These studies, which have common feature of labour involvement, reflect the growth of union interest in the investment of pension funds and their participation in labour-sponsored investment funds. The book contains eight chapters. Chapter one provides a political analysis of the damaging consequences for workers and communities of the prevailing international investment practices of pension funds. Chapter two challenges conventional interpretations of fiduciary responsibility. Chapter three provides practical, legal guidance to trustees on the development of statements of investment policy. Chapter four provides the results of a study to understand the dynamics that lead pension funds in the direction of social investment. Chapter five points the way for trustees and trade unions in assessing the collateral value of investment vehicles to community members. Chapter six presents the idea that a collaboration of labour and community leaders and academics can create opportunities for public and labour education, mobilize leadership, rally expertise, and create the momentum for major social change. Chapter seven shows the Canadian experience growing out of labour sponsored investment funds. Chapter eight provides the description of the well-established experience of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System in economically targeted investment. This book provides a valuable educational tool for union activists, trustees, and other groups interested in progressive approaches to the social investment of pension funds and labour-sponsored investment funds.

This is a doctoral thesis that focuses on investments targeted to a working class community in Vancouver, Canada. Given the fact that pension funds have become a critical source of capital for national and international markets, and yet are largely beyond the control of workers or their unions, the author argues that these pension funds can provide the long-term capital needed to build a new economy based on real productivity. To test this assumption, a participatory research methodology is applied to a real estate development company in British Columbia funded through the pooling of capital from 26 pension funds with union trustees. The findings show that the company doubled its direct, attributable hours of employment in indirect and induced hours of work in the community. Further, its contribution to community productivity was more than double its total cost over a ten-year period. For all levels of government, tax revenues from Concert and Mortgage fund One far outweigh foregone taxes through pension fund contributions and investment returns. A social action model for union control of pension fund investment illustrates the major components that enable union trustees to invest pension funds for social, or collateral benefit. These components are leadership, social support and expertise, and education. The study recommends strong educational programs for pension trustees in social investment strategies.

In this chapter, the author challenges conventional interpretations of fiduciary responsibility, and argues that the “prudent man” rule has been used by the financial industry to bolster its control of workers’ pension funds and to prevent any union involvement. Through an examination of the leading cases in North America and Britain, it assesses the legal opportunities for union trustees to develop social investment strategies. It highlights recent Canada legal opinion, encourages trustees to work with their unions on economic development policy, and calls for a much stronger role for unions on pension investment education, investment policy, and economic development projects.

This is a book chapter that provides a case study of Concert, a real estate development company in British Columbia. The case study of Concert provides a model of a Canadian ETI for trustees. It tells a story of trade unionists and their friends who, in spite of numerous legal and practical obstacles, built a real estate development company that is a leader in affordable housing in Canada. It shows the structure of VLC, the two Concert companies as well as its sister investment vehicle, Mortgage Fund One. This chapter points the way for trustees and trade unions in assessing the collateral value of investment vehicles to their members and the general community. In the end, the author suggests that research in the area of social accounting needs to continue to support the social investment initiatives of trade unions and their trustees.

This book is an indispensable tool for understanding pension and benefit plans in Canada. It is divided into three parts. In Part One, the author provides detailed accounts of retirement income arrangements. Chapters in this part describe the pension programs sponsored by government and the variety of plans sponsored by employers in more detail. The typical terms and conditions found in employer plans are described, as are the considerations, including legislation, that an employer will take into account when deciding on these terms and conditions. While the focus is on registered pension plans, Part I also review other supplementary plans for executives and other retirement income and savings arrangements. Part Two provides an overview of employee benefits. The chapters describe major benefit category and address the variations and trends within each benefit. From a strategic perspective, it summarizes the administrative and financial considerations necessary for human resources professionals and financial officers. Part three is a brief outline of some the recent issues and trends that have occurred and are occurring in the pension and employment benefits sector. It provides some context and direction for managers thinking about the role of pensions and benefits with their particular organizations. In sum, the book, in easy-to-understand language, takes readers through comprehensive coverage on retirement savings arrangements, employee pensions and benefit and emerging issues.

In order to develop a framework and methodolgoy, this article analyzies a 10-year research program, which grounded in the reality of corporate behavior, for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance. This paper consists of three principal sections: (a) a summary of the approaches, models, and methodologies used in conducting more than 70 field studies of corporate social performance from 1983-1993; (b) a discussion of the principal conclusions derived from the data, and (c) a discussion of propositions and areas for further research.

This paper is about a study on 14 large pension funds in the U.K.. This study found that "poor practice in relation to socially responsible investment is the norm". Although some funds had established principles that include social and environmental issues in their Statement of Investment Principles (SIPs), they often did not have the capacity to implement them. The study further found that the most serious gap was in relation to the area of measurement, appraisal and rewards. It concluded that "poor practice by major pension funds on socially responsible investment is the norm". This paper includes a self-assessment tool for pension fund trustees with regard to social, ethical and environment matters.

This book deals with accomplished facts, which, according to the author, popular perception does not yet apprehend and with which the policies of the United States don not deal: facts of America's accomplished pension fund socialism, and of the demographic changes that underlie it. The author points out that few literature deals with the social or political implications of the pension funds, and very little attention given to the economic impacts. The author reviews the attainment of pension fund socialism in the world, examines the demographic changes, and explores the implications of socialism and political issues of pension fund, and suggests new alignments in American politics.

This article chronicles the rise of pension funds as dominant owners and lenders. It compares ownership in the U.S. to that in Europe and Japan and illustrates lessons which the U.S. can learn in defining performance and results. Further, it shows how pension funds should be managed and explains the rise of the hostile takeover in the late 1970s. This article also gives reference to the book 'The Practice of Management,' by William Taylor; Development of a formal business-audit practice.

This is a set of slides of Power Point presentation on Socially Responsible Investing at OPTrust (Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Pension Trust. It claims that OPTrust's fiduciary obligation is to obtain the highest level of risk-adjusted financial return on its investments. OPTrust believes that corporations can achieve this and act in a socially responsible manner with regard to ethical issues, while carrying on their business. This presentation explains OPTrust's SRI Proxy Voting Guidelines, gives some 2001 Examples of SRI (Socially Responsible Investing) Proxy Voting Issues, and provides application of SRI Proxy Voting Guidelines.

This paper considers the desirability of importing into Canada the highly interventionist pattern of shareholder activism used by the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) in the United States. The author cites a recent study by Nesbitt (1994) that found that whereas the targets of CalPERS activism underperformed the S&R Index by 60 percent prior to CalPERS' involvement, post-intervention returns jumped dramatically - out-performing the index by 40- percent. Given the returns alleged to derive form CalPERS' activism, the author considers why Canadian investors have yet to embrace this model of intervention. On the basis of extensive interviews conducted with Canadian public fund managers, the author traces the lack of enthusiasm for CalPERS' style intervention to differences in ' style', rather than to any fundamental difference in the underlying regulatory structure of the two countries.

This paper is about an exploratory study examining the relations between corporate social and environmental reporting (CSR) and the socially responsible investment (SRI) sector. The evidence presented, based upon the informed opinions of 14 experts within the SRI field, suggests that the field of CSR is on the verge of a major change toward a substantial and sustained improvement in quality and quantity. There could be a marked increase in the size and power of the SRI sector, improving their ability to successfully influence corporate behavior. For the first time, reputational risk, and hence how companies manage environmental, ethical, and social reputations, is on the core corporate governance agenda. A more powerful outcome would be an increased interest from mainstream fund managers in SRI modes of corporate assessment. Preliminary evidence suggests that this will create a greater demand for CSR and greater legitimacy of CSR within the accounting orthodoxy.

The book, "Working capital", is the direct result of the work of the Heart land Labor Capital Project and its sponsors -- the USWA and the Pittsburgh-based Steel Valley Authority. "Working capital" challenges money managers and labor movement by asking how workers' hard earned saving can be put in use in socially and economically progressive ways. The authors show that responsible management of pensions will create greater growth and prosperity and the longer-term interests of pension plan beneficiaries are well served through a ' worker-owners' view of the economy.

This paper provides an overview of various legal issues relating to socially responsible investment (SRI) as it applies to pension fund investment. The authors find that based on the legal cases reviewed in the paper, ?the consideration of social, ethical and environmental factors in making investment decisions does not constitute a prima facie violation of a trustee's duty of prudence and loyalty? (p.18). However, "trustees cannot sacrifice financial benefits for its beneficiaries based on social or ethical beliefs held by the trustees, unless this is mandated by the trust documents themselves" (p.18). The authors recommend disclosure of the SRI policy in the fund's SIP, and to plan beneficiaries so that they may provide input and comment on the social and ethical criteria in the SRI policy.

Using criteria for selection of investments, or screening, is becoming more common in Australia today. This paper discusses several different types of screens being used: negative, positive, best-of-sector, constructive engagement, and use of an index of environmentally and socially responsible companies. Shareholder activism may also be based on selecting out and investing in companies for targeted action. Over the past few years, there has been an explosion of interest in screened or socially responsible investment in Australia, with many new managed funds introduced. This expansion of interest reflects substantial changes in Australian capital markets: increased share ownership, spread of superannuation, and widening of member choice by super funds, as will as an increase in interest in social and environmental responsibility.

This report presents the findings of a survey of 101 member-nominated trustees of pension funds. The study was focused on the social and environmental performance of companies and asked trustees to what extent the following six areas of corporate behaviour would impact on the market value of the FTSE100 in both the short and longer terms. It includes: (1) good corporate governance, (2) quality of consumer relations, (3) good employment practices, (4) communication and transparency on social and environmental practices, (5) effective environment management, and (6) respect for local needs in the developing world.

This is a slide presentation at OMERS (Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System). It argues that the prosperity of the pension plan for Ontario municipal employees relies on the economy of Ontario. It examines ?four pillars? of this pension plan: Screening conventional investment, shareholder dialogue, economically targeted, and social venture capital.

To obtain a more complete understanding of recent developments in the institutional structures of the global economy and in the relationship between financial capital and labour, this thesis employs a critical theory methodology, and original research and analysis, to make two interrelated arguments: (1) the rise of mutual funds and pension funds is serving to make the financial markets less efficient in ways that explain a number of negative trends such as: currency crises; pressures on states to pursue excessively tight macroeconomic policies; and pressures on firms to restructure and downsize: (2) the rise of mass investment and the delegation of control to professional fund managers is serving to reconfigure the relationship between financial capital and labour by increasing the power of the former in both coercive and consensual ways. Investigated specifically is the way that the rise of mass investment and the related emergence of an investment culture may be serving to incorporate some elements of labour into a class alliance led by financial capital.

This paper is one chapter of the book "Money on the Line" (Carmichael & Quater, 2002). This paper describes the well-established experience of the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) in economically targeted investment. The author gives concrete examples of benefits to working-people in rural and urban communities in supportive housing, and affordable housing development. The author further describes worker-friendly venture capital investing, such as in the retail foods industry, biotechnology, communications, and merchant banking.

This article examines the experience of several types of Canadian Labour Sponsored Investment Funds (LSIFs), which provide venture capital to the Canadian economy through pooled individual retirement savings. These funds are sponsored, and in many cases controlled, by labor bodies. These funds invest workers' savings in good jobs within local communities, which are investment strategy on a broad social agenda that promotes worker participation, training, and respect for stakeholders beyond those holding shares. These funds investments pay off both in returns to the funds' unit holders and within the economy as a whole.

This article explores these three strategies as well as assesses the trends and impacts associated with the $2 trillion socially responsible investment industry in the United States. The three primary social investing strategies are: selecting companies that reflect an investor's values; shareholder activism bringing pressure on companies where a person invests; and community supporting community development initiatives through investing in economically targeted development.

This study targets a specific actor group in the issue domain of sustainable development. That is representatives of the financial industry, particularly those managing the increasing amount of pension resources that are accumulated in developed economies. It surveyed and interviewed pension fund representatives of pension funds in the U.K., the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, North-eastern U.S., California, Ontario and Quebec. The study explored three series of interview questions:1) How do you see the relationship between your mandate and sustainability issues? How do you coordinate short- and long-term strategies, and are there major changes in investment patterns if sustainability is taken into account? Is transparency relevant (e.g., U.K. rules for declaring policies on social and environmental investment)? 2) What types of sustainability information are relevant for your day-to-day decision (company information, sector information, sustainability portfolios, sustainability indices)? How important are its scientific credibility, and the legitimacy of the people producing this information, for yourself and your clients? 3) How will you decide what sustainability information (and tools to use this information) you'll need in the future? What will be important regarding quality and transparency of this future sustainability information? In the case that corporations would be routinely requested to give sustainability information as part of their risk disclosure requirements, what would this mean for your business?

In attempting to resist globalization, certain Canadian unions have actively engaged with the investment of their members? pension fund money, through the creation of labour-sponsored investment funds. Drawing on empirical material collected in Canada this paper explores the development of the labour-sponsored funds. Through investing in the provincial funds, workers and community members allow their money to be reinvested in local businesses, anchoring capital and saving jobs. These labour investment institutions combine a competitive return for shareholders with wider community regeneration.

The Canadian Social Investment Database? (CSID?) is the first database of its kind in Canada. CSID contains social and environmental profiles of more than 300 publicly-traded Canadian companies. A broad range of social and environmental issues are analyzed, including: aboriginal and community issues, diversity in the workplace, employee relations, environmental performance, ethical business practices, human rights issues, product safety, involvement in alcohol, gambling, nuclear energy, tobacco, and weapons-related production.

This article presents a reflective narrative examining managerial conceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Irish context. It locates the narrative within the debate on corporate management may capture social accountants' efforts to promote a broad society-centred conception of CSR. On the basis of the narrative, the article presents three major findings: (1) there is a tendency for managers to interpret CSR in a constricted fashion consistent with corporate goals of shareholder wealth maximization; (2) pockets of robust resistance to and defenses of this narrow conception also emerge in the narrative; and (3) it is complex to conceiving a clear meaning for CSR, especially for those exposed to the structural pressures encountered by these managers

This paper critically evaluates an attempt by the American sociologist Bruyn to develop a conceptual foundation for social investment policy and research. Major reservations expressed centre on the employment of a definition of social investment in terms congruent with the tenets of market ideology. Attention is also drawn to the naive apolitical stance adopted and a discerned tendency to resort to unjustified assertion in place of rigorous analysis. Aspects of the framework advanced are nevertheless considered to merit further attention by researchers, notably the emphasis on the local community as the ultimate focus for decision making and the need to investigate more fully pension fund investment strategy and information needs.

This paper suggests that few institutional investors have the expertise necessary to intervention in the management of firms whose shares they own. They argue that the governance problems within pension funds must be resolved before pension funds can be expected to improved the governance of corporations. They contend that the current provision in the Income Tax Act that restricts pension funds to investing no more than 20 percent of their portfolios abroad probably does not contribute to better corporate governance. They also consider mandatory indexing, a flip tax on capital gains, greater legal liability for pension-fund managers, professional monitors, relational investing, and better disclosure of pension-fund mangers' compensation, and of pension funds' risk and comparative performance in detail with these proposals' pros and cons.

In order to understand the extent of social investment among union-based pension funds as well as labour-sponsored investment funds in Canada and to understand the factors that affect social investment strategies among such funds, this study draws a national sample of 189 pension funds with assets of at least $50 million was drawn from the Canadian Pension Fund Investment Directory (Toronto: Maclean Hunter). The sample also included 10 labour-sponsored investment funds, half the number of such funds in Canada. The study finds that pension funds in Canada have minimal social investment. There is somewhat higher social investment among labour-sponsored investment funds, and particularly labour-sponsored investment funds with genuine union sponsorship. The study also explores factors related to social investment by funds.

This paper is one chapter of the book "Money on the Line" (Carmichael & Quarter, 2002). It provides the results of a study to understand the dynamics that lead pension funds in the direction of social investment. It builds on an earlier study, which found that pension fund in Canada have minimal social investment initiatives. Through an organizational analysis, this paper identifies leadership as a critical factor in the adoption of social investment strategies.

This book raises an important issue: many important contributions by nonprofit organizations have been overlooked in social accounting. It analyzes how to access social impact and the importance of volunteers' contributions. This book outlines the concept of social economy and its underlying dimensions, discusses the common features of nonprofits and cooperatives and reviews socio accounting theories. It introduces different approaches and makes comparisons. It introduces a social accounting toolkit and four modals of volunteers'contributions. Further, through seven cases studies the book explains the four modals of voluntary work's contributions: (1) the socioeconomic impact, (2) the socioeconomic resources, (3) the expanded value added, and (4) the community social return.

In this book the author gives readers an up-to-date and comprehensive description of the "thrid sector" of the Canadian economoy. The author describes the major components of this sector focusing on new approaches to ownesrhip and management which go beyond the ideas of traditional business management. The author also discusses new ways of managing the provision of social services like childcare and healthcare.

This thesis examines the interrelationships among the major participants in corporate governance--owners, boards of directors, and top management teams, and how these interrelationships may affect corporate decision making and, ultimately, firm performance. Particularly, the thesis explores implications of changes in corporate ownership structure caused by the increasing presence of institutional investors. This study answers four questions: (1) Are institutional owners actively involved in the strategic affairs of companies in their portfolios? (2) Which forms of activism do institutional owners employ (either confrontational mechanisms, such as filing shareholder proposals, or relationship building mechanisms)? (3) Which forms of activism employed are most effective? and (4) Does the institutional type affect its pursuit of shareholder activism?

This thesis examines the ownership within the management field. It presents a model of institutional ownership integrating into a broader general theory of ownership and tests the model on one type of institutional owner, public pension plans. The model is tested on public pension plans, the plans of state and municipal workers. The thesis explores these questions: In terms of agency costs, how is the performance of public pension plans affected by their management and stakeholders? A nexus model of public pension plans delineates their stakeholders, and is the basis for hypotheses regarding agency effects on plan performance.

This paper presents the current state of social responsibility and socially responsible investment, including the involvement of large pension funds. It discusses businesses and social responsibility, the government's role in promoting corporate social responsibility, and individual and institutional investors and corporate social responsibility.

This article presents information on pension accounting. It discusses defined-benefit pension plan accounting, analyzes expected return on plan assets, and explores problems faced by companies with regard to defined-benefit pension plan accounting. Particularly, the authors reviews studies on this issue in Canada and the United States. The recent studies by investment banks Credit Suisse First Boston and Bear Stearns found that the return on pension plan assets boosted the financial performance of many large corporations. For fiscal 2000, almost half the S&P 500 companies with defined benefit pension plans reported pension income rather than pension expense, and in many cases this pension income contributed significantly to operating income. In Canada, a study of the 27 largest Canadian corporations was conducted and it found similar results, with 41 per cent of the sample reporting pension income. The studies in the U.S. found that aggregate operating income of the entire S&P 500 would have been approximately 3 per cent lower in 2000 if pension income had been excluded. Further, 35 of the companies reporting pension income obtained more than 10 percent of their operating earnings from pension income, even though in many cases the actual return on their pension plan assets was negative.

This article presents a study, which examines the status of defined benefit pension plans. It examines the under funding of pension plans of companies in Canada and the U.S.; predicts the funded status of 2002 pension plans, and discusses economic significance of pension liabilities.

This article is one chapter of "Working Capital: The power of labor's pensions." In spite of control of pension fund investment policy in the United States, many mangers still hesitate to engage affirmatively in economically targeted investments (ETIs). In this paper the author argues that ETIs should be a central element of any worker-owner strategy because of their potentially rich collateral benefits. The author reviews current investment practice and regulation to determine why so many professionals are reluctant to pursue ETIs. The author finds out that the high requirements of information and expertise prevented many pension funds from taking advantage of ETI opportunities. The author also analyzes the reasons of these obstacles and explores the solutions.

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