Busted for being opaque

Corporate Responsibility Magazine shines a light on the Russell 1,000's least transparent companies.

The Black List details 30 companies for whom zero points of relevant data can be found to compare their transparency to that of colleagues on the Russell 1000 list of large-cap firms.

These companies are saying nada about things like climate change performance or broader environmental performance. The issue is bigger than the 30 companies on the list. 161 companies did not even have basic disclosure about their employee benefit programs.

The magazine approaches this situation from a corporate governance/investor relations perspective. Their audience is the corporate executive charged with maintaining good "corporate responsibility."

In the past, avoiding disclosure may have been a smart way to dodge controversy, oversight or unwelcome attention. Now choosing to not be transparent has its own cost. Remember that the next time you venture into an Abercrombie & Fitch store.