Big Four firm KPMG has announced the launch of its
The tool looks to give professionals more readily available information on board diversity policies and demographics. Board diversity information was previously available exclusively through company-by-company review of proxies and other public company disclosures.
“Diverse boards are more effective, and disclosure drives action,” said Susan Angele, senior advisor at the KPMG Board Leadership Center, in a statement. “As stakeholder calls continue to grow for disclosure of board diversity as well as policies and practices, this tool will help measure progress and highlight gaps.”
The KPMG Board Leadership Center utilized the Benchmarking Tool to analyze board diversity practices as of Jan. 31, 2021. Notable findings included:
- While 98% of Russell 3000 companies refer to diversity in their director search criteria (an SEC rule), only 67 percent specify gender diversity and only 61 percent specify racial or ethnic diversity in their board composition.
- Approximately 26 percent of Russell 3000 companies disclose the proportion of board members who are female, compared to 59 percent of S&P 500 companies.
- Eight percent of Russell 3000 companies report the proportion of board members who are racially or ethnically diverse, compared to 25 percent of S&P 500 companies.
- Only 1 percent of Russell 3000 companies and 2 percent of S&P 500 companies disclose the self-reported sexual orientation of their directors.
For more information on the Board Diversity Disclosure Benchmarking Tool, head to KPMG's
