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Boston,
MA, January 23, 2006 -- KLD Research
& Analytics, Inc. announced today that it has expanded
its corporate governance and community screens to include
four new qualitative areas: political accountability,
transparency, accounting controversies, and tax disputes.
"The
behavior of companies such as Enron and Worldcom and lobbyists
such as Jack Abramoff have demonstrated the immense power
of corporate money and its role in American politics,"
said Peter D. Kinder, president of KLD Research & Analytics,
Inc. "KLD's new corporate governance and community
screens will bring greater transparency and accountability
to an area that has long been murky for investors and
money managers."
"For
corporations to be good citizens they must be accountable
to shareholders and to the communities they operate in,"
added Kinder.
In
addition to providing executive/board compensation and
ownership information, KLD's expanded corporate governance
screens will now address political accountability issues
such as whether or not companies are transparent in their
direct and indirect involvement in state or federal-level
U.S. politics or non-U.S. politics. It also considers
the stances companies take on various public policy debates.
The
KLD corporate governance
screen also includes transparency issues - whether or
not a company is strong in its reporting on a wide range
of social and environmental performance measures - and
tracks accounting controversies for major and minor accounting
scandals.
In
a related area, KLD has expanded its coverage of local,
state and federal tax controversies in the context of
a company's relations with the communities in which it
operates.
How KLD's
Corporate Governance and Community Screens Work
KLD
maintains a proprietary, web-based database (SOCRATES)
of company profiles that feature quantitative ratings
for the expanded corporate governance and community screens.
For each company that is profiled, KLD assigns a quantitative
rating, from -3 to 0 or +3 to 0.
Company
ratings are based on KLD proprietary company surveys,
data from the Center for Political Accountability, Factiva
news searches, and extensive research from corporate web
sites and other company sources. Money managers can select
the specific criteria they need for screening, compliance,
and asset gathering.
About
the Center for Political Accountability
The
Washington, D.C. based Center for Political Accountability
(CPA), www.politicalaccountability.net,
is a nonprofit nonpartisan advocacy group that seeks greater
transparency and accountability on corporate political
spending by analyzing publicly available data and by supporting
shareholder resolutions requesting data.
About KLD Research
& Analytics, Inc.
KLD
Research & Analytics, Inc. is an independent investment
research firm providing investment management tools used
by professionals to serve clients requiring investment
strategies based on social and environmental responsibility.
KLD products and services, including SOCRATES (a web-based,
company research tool) are used for screening, compliance
and asset gathering.
For
more information about KLD or KLD's new corporate governance
and community screens, please see KLD's website (www.kld.com)
or contact Karen Agredo
by phone (617.426.5270) or via e-mail (kagredo@kld.com).
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