New IRRC Social Investment Screener Hits the Shelves

June 10, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Compliance officers and financial professionals interested in screening possible investments for a plethora of social criteria and corporate governance issues have a new online version of Portfolio$creener to consider.

The Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC) announced the launch of its new investment screener, billed as a “one-stop solution” for research data on issues of concern to both socially responsible investors and traditional corporate governance advocates.   This is accomplished through the marriage of the new screener version with IRRC’s corporate governance Benchmarker product , according to a news release.

Screened information is presented to users via the Web offering fact-based research and narrative presentations of Portfolio$creener’s social responsibility issues for almost 3,000 domestic and foreign publicly traded companies. With filters that can be set up to positively or negatively screen for certain triggers, users can choose to examine corporate involvement in a number of different areas, including:

  • alcohol beverage manufacturing
  • contraceptives and abortifacients
  • firearms
  • gambling
  • nuclear power
  • tobacco
  • environment
  • employment policies
  • human rights
  • weapons production.

Further, the Benchmarker component of the product provides “at a glance” access to corporate governance data that pinpoint each company’s governance practices. With more than 70 data points available, a user can draw from five key categories:

  • boards of directors
  • board committees
  • directors
  • CEO pay and stock incentives
  • shareholder rights profiles.

The benchmarking is done through peer group comparisons based on industry sector and the S&P 1500 index.

To see Portfolio$creener and Benchmarker in action or to get more information about the products, contact IRRC Director of Marketing Michele Soulé, at (202) 833-7936 or michele.soule@irrc.com.

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