Africa's Top Bourse Weighs AIDS Reporting

Africa's largest stock exchange could require listed companies to include cases of HIV/AIDS in their corporate reporting. "We are working with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, listed companies and a range of other parties to see if it's possible to have an accounting standard and some sort of reporting requirements specifically related to HIV/AIDS," said Russell Loubser, president of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The thinking behind the requirement is that the financial well being of a company is directly related to the health of its work force. The JSE ranks as the world's 14th largest exchange by market capitalization and currently lists 462 companies. Last year, a voluntary and anonymous survey of 320 JSE staff found that four of 210 who tested were HIV-positive, said Loubser. "We wanted to go through the same sort of process that other organizations will have to experience down the line," he said.

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