Smithfield transparency earns recognition

CorporateRegister.com, which annually presents the world's leading corporate responsibility report awards, has named Smithfield Foods’ 2012 Integrated Report as its winner for openness and honesty. Smithfield was also named runner-up for best integrated report.
CorporateRegister.com noted this about the openness and honesty category, "This award is for the report which 'comes clean', tells both the good and the bad news, and which convinces us that this is a balanced picture."
Voters highlighted Smithfield's willingness to detail metrics and progress as well as challenges and areas needing additional effort. Paul H Scott, director, CorporateRegister.com Limited explains, "This balance stands out from the mainstream of U.S. corporate reports, which tend to give a superficial and 'good news' slant - not so in the case of Smithfield Foods. This is what the 'Openness & Honesty' category is all about."
Reacting to the award, Smithfield Foods President and Chief Executive Officer Larry Pope said, "All of us at the Smithfield family of companies are committed to being fully transparent and accountable for everything that we do, and therefore it's a tremendous honor to be recognized by a well-respected organization like CorporateRegister.com for our openness."
CorporateRegister.com noted of Smithfield's second-place finish in the best-integrated report category, "The best of these reports integrate the financial and non-financial aspects throughout; they do not just include a section on non-financial aspects."
"It takes a total team effort on the part of each and every employee at all of our companies to engage our various audiences in open and honest dialogues, and to gather all of the varied, detailed information that goes into our annual Integrated Report. I'm very proud of the job our employees do every day," said Dennis H. Treacy, Smithfield's executive vice president and chief sustainability officer.
There were 178 entries across 9 categories with online voting available to all entrants with no one allowed to vote for their own report.
CorporateRegister.com Limited is an independent, privately held and self-funded organization based in the United Kingdom. CorporateRegister.com is the world's largest online directory of corporate responsibility (CR) reports, past and present, making it the primary reference point for CR reports and resources worldwide. The organization provides services to the global corporate responsibility community in order to advance CR globally.