Australia's corporate sector has received a bad report card when it comes to keeping shareholders informed online, seemingly ignoring the recent push for greater corporate transparency.

A recent study of Web sites maintained by 38 prominent companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange found that less than half served investor needs adequately.

Global Reviews, which carries out the study once every six months, said only around 15 of the 38 companies selected for the benchmarking exercise achieved what could it deemed an acceptable score.

Companies performed particularly poorly when it came to publishing information relevant to investors and shareholders on the Web, with only four companies -- James Hardie, Bluescope Steel, Telstra and Woolworths -- managing to score above 50 percent.

Overall, company investor relations scores have declined since Global Reviews conducted its last review at the end of Q2, 2003. Last year's top-scoring company Westpac finished 17 percent higher than the top performer this year, National Australia Bank, which finished with 66 percent, while the company average score was also lower.

However, Global Reviews director Adam Goodvach attributes the decline in scores to improvements in industry standards and the expansion of the survey group to include poorer performing companies.

NAB, Coles Myer and Bluescope Steel took the top three places in the study while major banks and financial institutions, including Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, QBE and AXA, spread across the rankings.

Media companies were among the worst at communicating with their shareholders, with Fairfax Holdings and Packer Broadcasting Limited taking second and third last places in the survey. News Corp struggled for a respectable score in 30th place.

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