Thursday, May 29, 2008

Large-caps set high corporate governance standards, but independence still an issue for some

For those that have felt the corporate governance requirements under SOX were unreasonable, consider these findings in Austrailia regarding corporate governance practices. The themes sound all too familiar.

Australia’s largest publicly listed companies generally meet all aspects of best practice guidelines for corporate governance; however full independence still remains a key issue for some major companies.

The 2008 BDO Kendalls Large-Cap Corporate Governance Survey, released today, shows that while independence at the board level is not an issue for most (70%) of Australia’s top 20 listed companies, a number of large companies do not meet best practice guidelines in relation to their audit, remuneration or nomination committees.

The survey methodology used has been developed by BDO Kendalls over a number of years and in some cases sets a higher standard than the ASX best practice principles for corporate governance.

Areas highlighted included some companies having audit, remuneration or nomination committees that were either not made up of all independent directors or the chair was not independent. The survey findings are based on the 2007 annual report disclosures of the 20 largest Australian listed companies by market capitalisation as at 13 March, 2008.

Large-caps set high corporate governance standards, but independence still an issue for some

Labels: Austrailia, BDO Kendalls Large-Cap Corporate Governance Survey, corporate governance

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Monday, April 16, 2007

'Dirty Data' is a Business Problem, Not an IT Problem

Over the next two years, more than 25 percent of critical data in Fortune 1000 companies will continue to be flawed, that is, the information will be inaccurate, incomplete or duplicated, according to research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc. Gartner expects that three-quarters of large enterprises will make little to no progress towards improving data quality until 2010. To gain competitive advantage from information, organisations need to identify ‘data stewards’ in the business and manage information as a corporate asset.

Speaking at the company’s inaugural Business Intelligence and Information Management Summit in Sydney this week, Gartner Research vice president Andreas Bitterer said that “dirty data” or poor data quality is an often-overlooked business issue and it can have a large negative impact on a business.

'Dirty Data' is a Business Problem, Not an IT Problem

Labels: Austrailia, European Basel Accords, Privacy Act, sarbanes oxley

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Sarbox changes welcomed but imitators abound

arewell, Hotel California. This week's decision by US regulators to make it easier for foreign companies to escape Sarbanes-Oxley when they delist from a US stock exchange will be welcomed by many companies that had complained the rules meant you could – in the words of the Eagles song – "check out any time you like, but you can never leave".

But is Sarbox all bad? The US has sustained a barrage of criticism for introducing a law, whose Section 404 provision on internal and auditor checks was seen as one of the most intrusive, and costly, measures ever foisted on corporate executives.

Sarbox changes welcomed but imitators abound

Labels: Austrailia, Brazil, Canada, EU, France, Hong Kong, internal control, Mexico, sec 404 sox

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