CSR Disclosures-MEDIBANK .

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING THEORY
CSR Disclosures-MEDIBANK
STUDENT ID:
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Executive Summary
The selected company is Medibank which is the second largest health insurer in Australia
with national presence and revenues in excess of $ 6.5 billion. The company has limited CSR
disclosures through the annual report and the company website. There is no dedicated
periodic CSR report and thus the company has limited the scope of CSR reporting. The
corresponding motivation for making the disclosures for the company is driven by the
stakeholder theory considering the fact that in the past the company was not driven by profit
but by extending services to a wide degree of stakeholders. The CSR reporting adhered by the
company is beneficial for the local community in multiple ways since it ensure greater
awareness for the causes, higher participation from members of local community coupled
with support from other stakeholders.
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Introduction
In the recent times, there has been an increase in the disclosures made by companies with
regards to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives (Deegan, 2015). In this backdrop,
the objective of the given report is to highlight the disclosures made by Medibank, a private
health insurance company in Australia. The company was founded in 1975 as a government
enterprise but was privatised in 2014. Currently, the company is the second largest health
insurer in Australia and has been listed at ASX. The Federal government continues to hold a
significant amount of stake in the company. The company in the past has invested
significantly in CSR activities owing to the not for profit status till 2009 (Medibank, 2017).
Components of CSR Reporting
The key objective of this section is to highlight the various reporting related initiatives by the
company with regards to social reporting and environmental reporting. Considering the focus
of the company is towards the health of the patients, hence the social initiatives of the
company are also aimed at bettering the health of the community at large by getting involved
in various community projects (Medibank, 2017). In relation to environment, the main focus
of the company is on reducing the carbon footprint of the underlying business activities. With
regards to reporting in these aspects, it is noteworthy that the company does not have a
dedicated CSR report unlike some other companies which tend to release the same on an
annual basis. The company instead reports the social initiatives on the company website
where there is a dedicated section on corporate social responsibility which lists down the
broad approach adopted by the company towards CSR along with details of various social
initiatives that the company has undertaken in this regards (Medibank, nd).
Another source used by the company for reporting CSR related information is the annual
report. However, only a very small portion of the annual report is used for the reporting of
CSR related initiatives. In FY2018 annual report, the company only dedicated 5 pages out of
the total 136 pages towards highlighted CSR related information and respective performance
in quantitative terms. This essentially was covered under sustainability section where besides
the internal stakeholders, environment and community were also earmarked. With regards to
community, the report highlights the various projects that the company is involved along with
the total quantum of investment made by the company. Further, the company also highlights
the distribution of the funds into various aspects of community related projects. With regards
to environment, a brief strategy is stated along with the various initiatives. Also, the
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