Index February 2004
Comment
Investors should think before they act
Richard Northedge
So far, 2004 has been a busy year for management
change. Heads have rolled at retailers Marks & Spencer and Austin Reed after
poor Christmas sales; Lloyds TSB has waved goodbye to its finance director
and the chairman of Shell is under pressure to go with calls for WH Smith’s
chairman to follow the company’s managing director out of the door.
More >>
Governance
Myners review of UK proxy voting
More commitment required by all parties
Paul Myners has called for more engagement by pension
funds to encourage their investment managers and custodians to start using
electronic voting of shares. More >>
Parmalat
Auditors and banks in the spotlight in scandal
Parmalat, the collapsed Italian
diary giant, has revealed that its debt at the end of September 2003 stood
at €14.3bn, not €1.8bn which the diary group disclosed. Liquid assets at
that time were negligible. More >>
Hollinger International
Lord Black sale to Barclay brothers hits a snag
The corporate governance scandal at
Hollinger
International and Hollinger Inc. has descended into legal wrangling.
The problems were caused by a special committee of the Hollinger International
board revealing the payment of unauthorised fees to some of its directors.
More >>
Royal Dutch/Shell
Calls for Sir Phillip Watts to quit
The news that the Royal Dutch/Shell Group
has had to recategorise 20% (representing 3.9 bn barrels of oil) of
its proved reserves as at 31 December 2002 brought calls from commentators
for the company's chairman, Sir Philip Watts, to resign.
More >>
OECD
Principles of Corporate Governance revised
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) has
published a
draft of the revision of its Principles of Corporate Governance
for public consultation. More >>
Adecco
Accounting irregularities delay full results
Temporary-staffing agency, Adecco, was forced to delay
the announcement of its 2003 audited results due on 4 February because of
accounting irregularities. Adecco is listed on the Swiss Exchange and the New
York Stock Exchange. More >>
Securities & Exchange Commission
US gets tough on investment companies
The US regulator and its largest public institutional investors have both taken
steps to improve the governance and ethics of investment companies which they
claim will help protect investors. More >>
New York Stock Exchange
SEC launches investigation into Webb report
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is
investigating issues raised by outside counsel Dan Webb in his
report for New York Stock Exchange’s
(NYSE) board of directors published in December. More >>
Equal Opportunities Commission
Business should do more to get female leaders
There are still too few women holding the top positions in business as
well as in government and public services according to the
Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC),
in its report,
“Sex and power: who runs Britain?”. More >>
Mercer Investment Consulting
Fund managers focus on governance in 2004
A third of fund managers (33%) believe corporate
governance could be improved in the UK during 2004, while two-thirds
(67%) believe it could be improved in Europe according to Mercer Investment
Consulting.
More >>
Financial Reporting Council
Appointments announced
The
Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which is expanding its role into the
regulation of accountants and providing stronger oversight of financial reporting, has
appointed Paul Boyle, formerly chief operating
officer at the Financial Services Authority,
as its chief executive. More >>
Governance in brief.....
NEDs are paid more as they work harder
A survey conducted by
Independent Remuneration Solutions has revealed a 30% increase in
independent non-executive directors’ fees reflected by a 30% increase in
workload.
More >>
CSR in brief.....
Christian Aid says CSR is just about image
Christian Aid
has called on politicians to take responsibility for the ethical operation
of companies. According to a report published by the charity, the image of
organisations working hard to make the world a better place is too often
just that – a carefully manufactured image. More >>
Conferences
Topical governance and CSR-related conferences.
More >>
February,
2004
|
