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Screening Criteria
First screen: Eliminate all companies that did not disclose at least 75% of the 'priority indicators' in their respective industry group for performance year 2011.[1]
Second screen: Eliminate all companies with an F score below 5.[2]
Third screen: Eliminate all companies with a Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) sub-industry classification that relates to the manufacturing or distribution of tobacco products or armaments.[3]
Fourth screen: Eliminate all companies that are bottom quartile performers in the CK Financial Sanctions screen. The CK Financial Sanctions screen measures the amount of money that companies have paid out in qualifying fines, penalties or settlements on a trailing one-year basis.[4]
Approach: A keyword search for "fines, penalties or settlements" is run for each company using Factiva and Lexis Nexis.[5] Payouts may relate to legal repercussions from environmental accidents, generalized environmental pollution, infringement of labor standards, human rights-related abuses, child exploitation or violation of collective bargaining arrangements. Payouts that occurred from October 1, 2011 to October 1, 2012 are totaled and converted to USD[6], and then divided by total revenue reported from Q4 2011 to Q3 2012. The resulting ratio is then percent-ranked on an industry group-specific basis, such that companies are only compared against their industry group peers. Those companies that receive a bottom quartile percent score (e.g. 25% or below) are eliminated.
Shortlist: Companies that pass the fourth screen constitute the 2013 Global 100 Shortlist.[7]
[1] A priority indicator is any of the 12 key performance indicators (KPIs) used in CK’s research model that is disclosed by at least 10% of all companies in an industry group. Since CEO pay is not widely tracked by Bloomberg, the disclosure test for KPI # 7 was based exclusively on total wage bill. KPIs 6, 11 and 12 are not used in the first screen as they are either universally disclosed or applicable to a subset of companies.
[2] The F-Score (the Piotroski F-score) is a measure of the financial strength of a company. The F-score is the sum of the scores for each of nine tests. Each test scores one for a pass and zero for a fail. The tests are: i) net profit is positive; ii) operating cash flow is positive; iii) net profit ÷ total assets at beginning of year, minus the same number for the previous year is positive; iv) operating cash flow is greater than net profit; v) long term debt ÷ by average assets has not increased; vi) the Current ratio has increased (the change is more than zero, so even a negligible increase passes the test); vii) no raising of ordinary (common) equity over the previous year: this test is passed if the company did not issue any ordinary shares; viii) gross margin has improved over the previous year; and ix) asset turnover has increased.
[3] The relevant sub-industries include: i) Aerospace & Defence; and ii) Tobacco. In the case of Aerospace & Defense, the company will be eliminated if it derives a majority of its revenue from its Defense business.
[4] Companies that pass the CK Financial Sanctions screen may be reassessed during the October 2012 to January 2013 timeframe.
[6] Using the prevailing exchange rate at the time of the payout.
[7] The 100 companies in the 2012 Global 100 are automatically included in the 2013 Global 100 shortlist.
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