Of the 345 companies that have been on the S&P 500 since 2015, 270 of them now prohibit or fully disclose spending on candidates or their committees. That’s up from 168 a few years prior, according to CPA’s analysis
“The index is recognized by companies as credible and serious. It is respected,” Bruce Freed, CPA president, told DMI. “Increasingly, companies want to be ‘Trendsetters’ (achieving scores of 90+ out of 100) that they can tout to show their best practices. In the 2023 index, 39% of the S&P 500 were in the top quintile.”
Even if executives hope to steer clear of this election, “if they engage in political spending, they’re speaking,” said Bruce Freed, president of The Center For Political Accountability, which has pushed for spending disclosures. “They won’t be sitting it out. As long as they’re giving, that creates risk because of what it associates them with.”
There’s a noticeable trend in the S&P 500 towards political disclosure and accountability becoming the norm, with a significant percentage of companies scoring high on the CPA-Zicklin Index of Corporate Political Disclosure and Accountability.
Freed told Popular Information that the corporations sending millions in PAC donations to election deniers are “putting themselves at risk.” He thinks the companies are underestimating the economic danger of undermining “the rule of law.” Instead of focusing on the preservation of “the political system that they need to be able to operate and grow,”…
A rush of shareholder proposals demanding transparency have been filed for the 2024 proxy season, with a strong emphasis on lobbying alignment.
With corporate political disclosure and accountability accepted as the norm, the next step for companies is to put in place a framework for approaching, governing and assessing their election-related spending.
The vast majority of companies utilize various forms of public policy advocacy to impact legislative and regulatory decisions mainly through lobbying and campaign contributions.
“Now, the CPA has developed a Guide to Becoming a Model Code Company, designed to help companies and their boards understand the Model Code and how it can help them manage election-related political spending in high-risk environments…”
Three fundraising accounts tied to key Michigan Democrats each got contributions of at least $200,000 from a nonprofit bankrolled by one of the state’s largest electric utilities in 2022, according to a tax filing obtained by The Detroit News.