The Relationship between Corporate Governance, Transparency and Financial DisclosureIntroductionCorporate governance has evolved and grown significantly in the last decade.Numerous countries have issued corporate governance codes and the recommendations of these codes that typify ‘good’corporate governance undoubtedly contribute towards increased transparency and disclosure.Following the Enron collapse there has been an increased emphasis on various aspects of corporate governance, including transparency and disclosure aspects.With the internationalisation of cross-border portfolios, and the financial crises that have occurred in many parts of the world, it is perhaps not surprising that institutional investors in particular increasingly look more carefully at the corporate governance of companies.After all, corporate governance goes hand in hand with increased transparency and accountability.This increased transparency and accountability should, of itself, lead to a better flow of foreign direct investment and more stable financial markets.Transparency and disclosureIn order to understand why good corporate governance practices can contribute towards increased transparency and financial disclosure,encourage a better flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) and lead to more stable financial markets,it is useful to refer to the OECD (1998a) principles which identify the key elements of good corporate governance: . Rights and obligations of the shareholders. Equitable treatment of shareholders.·Role of stakeholders and corporate governance. Transparency, disclosure of information and audit. Board of directors. Non-executive members of the board. Executive management, compensation and performanceFor the purpose of this piece, the section on transparency and disclosure is detailed below.Transparency, disclosure of information and audit. Corporate governance framework should ensure the full,timely and detailed disclosure of information on all material matters,including its financial situation,performance,ownership structure and governance of the corporation.. Includes establishment of (internal) audit committee.. Transparency/disclosure includes disclosure of information on:– financial/operating results– ownership structure– members of Board of Directors and management– quantitative and qualitative matters concerning employees and other stakeholders in the corporation– governance structures and policies– corporate targets and prospects– execution of unusual and complex transactions,transactions on derivative products and their level of risk.The disclosures mentioned above are clearly fundamental to ensuring that the shareholdershave important information on key aspects of the business.The OECD (1998b) sums up well the value of good corporate governance in its report on Corporate Governance:Improving Competitiveness and Access to Capital in Global Markets, which highlighted the importance of transparency and disclosure:‘‘The disclosure of the corporation’s contractual and governance structures may reduce uncertainties for investors and help lower capital costs by decreasing related risk premia.Such transparency may also encourage a common understanding of the‘rules of the game’and provide employees with information that may help reduce labour friction’’.Corporate governance may also be used as a key to help restore investor confidence in markets that have experienced financial crises. We have seen this happening in the last few years in Malaysia, Japan and Russia,for example.In these countries,as in a number of other countries that have similarly been affected by a lack of investor confidence,particularly overseas investor confidence，new or improved corporate governance practices have been introduced. Key features of these changes include measures to try to improve investor confidence by improving transparency and accountability in these markets.Transparency and disclosure in corporate governance rating systems Corporate governance rating systems include transparency and disclosure as an important element in their rating systems.For example,Deminor state ‘‘information to shareholders is one of the most important aspects of corporate governance, as it reflects the degree of transparency and accountability of the corporation towards its shareholders’’.The ‘‘disclosure’’category looks at the transparency of a corporation as measured by the quantity and quality of the publicly available information on the governance structure.In the case of the Standard and Poor’s corporate governance rating, the scores from 10 (highest) to 1 (lowest) will be awarded to each of four individual components that together contribute to the overall corporate governance score.The individual components are:(i) ownership structure and influence(ii) financial stakeholder relations(iii) financial transparency and information disclosure(iv) board management structure and process.In relation to ‘‘financial transparency and disclosure’’,the criteria examined are the type of public disclosure standards adopted; the timing of, and access to, public disclosure; and independence and standing of the auditor.Other corporate governance ratings systems such as GovernanceMetrics and the Corporate Library’s Board Analyst service are currently being developed and finalised for launch.The latter service will grade boards . Interestingly, accounting issues will be overweighted in the analysis so that companies with a history of special charges or poor audit practices will rapidly acquire a poor grade.A desire for improved transparency and accountability to help inter alia to ensure that companies are perceived as attractive investments,has led to significant corporate governance reform in countries as diverse as Greece,Poland, Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.Concluding commentsWhilst it is important to recognise that ‘‘no single universal model of corporate governance exists nor is there a static, final structurein corporate governance that every country or enterprise should emulate’’ (CACG, 2000),it is also fair to say that transparency and disclosure are key attributes of any model of good corporate governance.Surveys of investor opinion highlight the importance of transparency and disclosure in a good corporate governance system. Additionally, 此外，the corporate governance ratings systems mentioned above all include disclosure and transparency aspects as part of a core assessment of good corporate governance– and rightly so.For without transparency and disclosure,shareholders and stakeholders would not be able to assess how,and in what manner,the company was being managed,and hence accountability would not exist in any meaningful way.It is appropriate to conclude with a quote from Arthur Levitt, who sums up succinctly the importance of the relationship between good corporate governance,transparency and disclosure,and the consequent impact on foreign direct investment and economic growth if these attributes are lacking:‘‘If a country does not have a reputation for strong corporate governance practices,capital will flow elsewhere.If investors are not confident with the level of disclosure,capital will flow elsewhere. If a country opts for lax accounting and reporting standards,capital will flow elsewhere. All enterprises in that country – regardless of how steadfast a particular company’s practices may be – suffer the consequencesReferences CACG (2000) Principles for Corporate Governance in the Commonwealth. New Zealand: Commonwealth Association for Corporate Governance. OECD (1998a) Global Corporate Governance Principles.Paris: OECD. OECD (1998b) Corporate Governance: Improving Competitiveness and Access to Capital in Global Markets. Paris: OECD.
公司高层在经营管理中的道德标准和财务状况披露透明度的关系1 介绍 在过去的十年里，公司的治理无论从道德标准还是透明度上都具有很大程度的提高，财务披露的重要性也在逐步增强。很多国家已经开始发行公司治理准则和创办“优质”公司治理方法的建议。这些做法无疑有助于增加财务状况信息披露透明度。自安然公司倒闭之后，社会已经逐步重视公司治理的各个方面，尤其是公司经营的透明度以及会计信息披露的准确。随着投资方式的国际化以及金融危机在世界各地的发生，越来越多机构投资者越来越关注公司的治理。毕竟，公司高层如果能够增强公司经营情况的透明度和问责机制，无疑可以构建一个更好的稳定的全球金融流通的金融市场。2 信息披露的透明度 为了理解“为什么好的公司治理能够提高财务披露的透明度，扩大对外直接投资，建立更稳定的金融市场”，不得不提及的经济合作发展组织（1998年）原则，这些是确定公司良好治理的关键要素： 1）股东的权力和义务 2）对股东的公平待遇。 3）利益相关者与公司治理中的作用 4）透明度，信息披露和审计 5）董事会 6）非执行董事成员 7）行政管理，薪酬与绩效 这部分的意义，关于透明度和信息披露详见下面。透明度，信息披露和审计，应确保有充分的公司架构，及时地披露所有的重大事项，包括其财务状况，性能，公司股权结构，与公司治理，包括建立（内部）审计委员会。透明的信息披露包括的内容： – 财务操作的结果 – 股权结构 – 董事会及管理层成员 – 定性定量地处理公司员工和股东事宜 – 治理结构和政策 – 公司的目标和前景– 执行不寻常的和复杂的交易和处理衍生产品交易和风险水平。 上述罗列要素是对股东所做的关键业务方面的基本保证。经济合作发展组织（1998年）总结，一个良好的公司治理报告应具备以下价值：提高竞争力和在全球市场上增加资本，这增加了透明度和信息披露的重要性：“披露公司的报表和治理结构能够减少投资者的不确定性，相关的风险溢价和资本成本也会相应降低。这种透明度也可以理解为一种共同的游戏规则, 员工提供可能有助于降低劳动纠纷信息。”公司治理也可以用来帮助恢复投资者对金融市场的信心，这也是度过金融危机的一个关键。举个例子，近几年在马来西亚、日本和俄罗斯，我们经常能看到这样的事情发生。其他很多国家，也同样有因为投资者信心不足而影响金融市场的发展，特别是海外投资者的信心。这些改进过的治理，通过实践得到了证实，其主要特点是努力实施使市场的透明度增加和问责制的措施，以此提高投资者的信心。 在公司治理评级系统中，透明度和信息披露是其中的的一个重要组成部分。例如，戴米诺的状态“信息对于股东而言，是管理企业最重要的方面之一，因为它在一定程度上反映了该公司对其他股东的透明度和问责性''。“披露”类别主要看管治架构的公开资料的数量和质量，以此作为衡量一个企业的透明度的标准。 标准普尔的公司治理评级的情况是确立从10（最高）到1（最低）的分数，分别给以下四个部分打分，再综合四项评分作为总分。这四个组成部分是： 1）所有制结构和影响 2）金融利益相关者的关系 3)财务的透明度和信息披露 4)管理结构和过程 在“财务透明度和信息披露”中，公开披露有以下标准：标准检查、公开披露的时间、审计师的地位以及其独立性。如GovernanceMetrics的企业管制评级系统，和企业库董事会分析员服务目前正在开发并推出定稿。‘‘A’’ through ‘‘F’’这个系统的评级是由字母“A”到字母“F”。有趣的是，会计问题将在分析环节过于重视，以至于公司历史尤其是特别费用或较差的审计实践的历史，使公司评级迅速差了一个档次。渴望提高透明度和问责，帮助其中包括以确保公司被视为有吸引力的投资，已经导致希腊，波兰，日本，香港和马来西亚等不同国家在重大的公司治理改革。结论虽然，最重要的是要认识到：“没有独立通用的公司，存在或者一直固定一个模式。在公司里，最终结构每个国家或者企业都应该效仿的。''公平地说，透明度和信息披露也是任何规模的企业良好管治的关键属性。投资者的意见调查显示在良好的公司治理制度的透明度和信息披露的重要性。上面提到的所有公司治理评级系统包括信息披露和透明度方面，作为良好企业管治的核心评估的一部分——是正确的。对于不透明度和信息披露，股东和利益相关者将无法评估如何，并以什么样的方式，公司被管理，因此，问责就不会存在任何有意义的方式。是合适结束阿瑟·莱维特报价，简明扼要地总结了良好的企业管治之间的关系的重要性，透明度和信息披露，以及随之而来的对外国直接投资和经济增长的影响，如果缺乏这些属性：“如果一个国家没有强大的企业管治常规的声誉，资金会流向别处。 如果投资者没有信心披露水平，资金会流向别处。如果一个国家选择宽松的会计和报告标准，资金会流向别处。 所有在该国的企业 - 不管多么坚定一个特定公司的做法可能是 - 自食其果参考文献CACG（2000）企业管治的原则在英联邦。新西兰：英联邦公司治理协会。 经济合作与发展组织（1998年）全球企业管治Principles.Paris：经济合作与发展组织。 经济合作与发展组织（1998年）公司治理：提高竞争力和在全球市场获得资金。巴黎：经济合作与发展组织。
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