Index April 2004
Comment
Corporate backlash gets underway
Richard Northedge
And now we have the corporate governance backlash.
After a year during which the institutions dished it out, Britain’s company
directors have finally been provoked into defending themselves. At last, we
now have a debate. More >>
Governance
IMA/CBI dinner
Investors and companies agree to keep talking
Institutional investors and companies agreed to continue their dialogue
following a dinner held by the
Investment Management Association (IMA) and the
Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
More >>
Shell
Annual reports and meetings delayed
A review by Royal
Dutch/Shell's group audit committee into the circumstances leading
up to the announcement in January of a 20% cut in its proven oil and natural
gas reserves is due to report this month. More >>
Walt Disney
Pension funds call for talks with board
Six US institutional investors have publicly called for
a meeting with the Walt Disney board of
directors to discuss the performance and future of the company.
More >>
EU audit directive
CBI calls for voluntary codes on audit committees
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has written
to the European Commissioner, Frits Bolkestein, expressing concern about the European Union
directive
on statutory audit proposed last month. More >>
Equitable Life
Myners to review governance of mutuals
Paul Myners is to conduct a review of the corporate governance of mutual
life offices for the government as part of its response to
Lord Penrose's report on Equitable Life. More
>>
Financial Services Authority
Industry given time to tackle soft commissions
The Financial Services Authority
(FSA) has
given the institutional investment industry until December to see if
improved disclosure in relation to soft commissions and bundled brokerage
arrangements will solve the current opacity and lack of accountability
in the process. More >>
Ethical standards for auditors
Concern about impact on small firms
The
Ethics Group of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB),
which represents all the main UK accounting bodies, has voiced its concern
about the impact on small companies of the ethical standards for auditors
proposed by the Auditing Practices
Board (APB). More >>
Hollinger International
Company forced to delay filing annual results
Jeremy Deedes who retired as managing director of the
Telegraph Group last November has been brought back to the company as chief
executive and deputy chairman.
More >>
Parmalat
Recovery plan published
Italian dairy group Parmalat
has outlined its recovery
plan following the revelations in December of its financial crisis
and the diverting of funds by its founder and former chief executive Calisto
Tanzi and other directors. More >>
Corporate Social Responsibility
Business in the Community
National Grid Transco tops CR index
National Grid Transco topped
Business in the Community’s (BITC)
2003 corporate responsibility (CR) index with an
overall score of 98% and was one of 28 premier league companies in the
BITC's
Business in the Environment (BiE)
index
which was achieved by scoring over 95%. More >>
Governance in brief.....
Mayflower suspends shares as
banks talks fail
Heavily indebted bus manufacturer,
Mayflower, requested
its shares be suspended on 30 March stating it was due to the "board's belief
that it is likely that the current negotiations with its lenders will prove
unsuccessful.
More >>
CSR in brief.....
Pan-European CSR proxy voting
launched
Fund manager Fortis Investments
and Deminor Rating, a corporate
governance research provider, have signed a pan-European co-operation agreement
in relation to corporate social responsibility (CSR) proxy voting. More >>
Conferences
Topical governance and CSR-related conferences.
More >>
April, 2004
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