Companies in the financial services and telecommunications sectors now lead the pack in the quality of social and environmental information they publicly disclose, according to a survey released today by Stratos Inc.

Vancity and Telus took the top two spots in the 2005 benchmark survey. BC Hydro and Suncor tied for third. Eleven companies from eight different business sectors share the top 10 spots – in order of ranking, Vancity, Telus, BC Hydro, Suncor Energy, BCE (Bell Canada Enterprises), PotashCorp of Saskatchewan, Weyerhaeuser, TransAlta, Inco, Syncrude and Vancouver International Airport Authority.

The ranking comes out of the 2005 national survey of corporate reporting practices released March 15 by the Ottawa-based sustainability consultancy.

Another survey finding was that 70% of companies on the S&P/TSX composite index now disclose sustainability information, up from 35% five years ago.

Overall, Stratos identified 114 Canadian companies that publish stand-alone corporate sustainability or social responsibility reports or integrate such information into their annual reports. It also found that the amount and quality of information disclosed is continuing to rise.

“More and improved public disclosure of non-financial information by Canadian corporations is informing decisions by company personnel and improving company relations with a range of external stakeholders,” said George Greene, chairman of Stratos.