A quest for better corporate disclosure goes to the movies

Sometimes it takes a 30-minute video to get noticed.

At least, that’s how Sanford Lewis saw it. The Boston-based attorney had spent four years seeking proper disclosure on the environmental and social liabilities of copper mining, oil refining, and medical device companies, but the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was unresponsive.

So he decided to make a movie to educate the public. The result was “Off the Books,” a film about the “many corporate lawyers and accountants (who) are cooking the books by hiding environmental violations, product hazards and human rights abuses from investors.”

“Like financial debt, these represent hundreds of billions of dollars in hidden liabilities – leaving us all in the dark as to how much a company is worth and whether its leaders are ethical,” Lewis said.

With help from the Corporate Sunshine Working Group (a national coalition of investors and activists who are seeking better SEC enforcement and standards on environmental and social disclosure) and a spur from Enron, Lewis completed production this spring So far, “Off the Books” has been shown at ten conferences and in a Boston theater. It was broadcast on the Free Speech TV network during September and October.

“People really understand and resonate with the issues,” he said. “And recently there has been increased activity by foundations and social investors who are asking the SEC to set additional disclosure standards on these issues.”

For more info, visit, http://www.foe.org/corporatesunshine.

To order the video, visit http://www.offthebooks.org or write to Friends of the Earth/OTB Video Project, 1025 Vermont Ave., NW #300, Washington, DC 20005.