Ted Knutson writes in Forbes: Investors are right to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks because they can impact the worth of intangible assets which make up more than 80 percent of company value, said a new report by the Society for Corporate Governance.The intangible assets that could be subject to ESG concerns include…
We recommend a no vote for directors who do not show up at annual meetings without a good reason. Some small investors who want to give a piece of their minds to big tech company directors are losing their only chance: many board members are skipping annual shareholder meetings. Companies that hold meetings online have…
Hermes is turning up the heat on climate change with carbon tool
Hermes Investment Management, the £33.6 billion manager, has been investing in the development of a number of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) tools for its fund managers and engagers to use to make enhanced investment decisions and to better inform engagement activities with companies on ESG matters.Hermes will be launching a carbon tool that allows…
Why Shareholders Should Be Cautious of These KPMG Audits, Despite SEC Assurances
SEC Chair Jay Clayton basically told investors “nothing to see here” when five KPMG partners were indicted for unlawfully using prior knowledge of confidential information from their regulator, the PCAOB. Francine McKenna quoted VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow in an article for Marketwatch: Corporate governance expert Nell Minow, the vice chair of ValueEdge Advisors, said…
SEC Wants Comments on Its Agenda
The Securities and Exchange Commission has published a draft strategic plan and inviting comments. The first goal they list is “Focus on the long-term interests of our Main Street investors.” The use of this term is a bit mystifying. The SEC knows better than anyone that most “Main Street” investors entrust their money to financial…
Shareholders Are Not the Problem
Susan Holmberg has a sincere, thoughtful, but occasionally misguided new paper, Economic Inclusion, Finance, and Wealth. The ideology of “shareholder primacy”—the belief that businesses function solely to profit and “maximize value” for shareholders—has had a profound and toxic effect on our economy. Corporate executives used to, in large part, manage companies for the long term,…
Unheralded Boardroom Excellence… at Theranos? | Adam J. Epstein | Pulse | LinkedIn
As the founder of Theranos faces a possible prison sentence and the company collapses under allegations of outright fraud and a board that was at best negligent, Adam J. Epstein points to one director who tried to do the right thing, based on the new book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley…
Pushing Back on Dark Money
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock signed a first-of-its-kind executive order Friday to require many state government contractors to report their political contributions, even those to so-called “dark money” groups that don’t have to disclose donors under federal law. Bullock said the measure is an example of how states can bring transparency to spending by groups classified…
U.S. Companies Shelter 40 Percent Of Foreign Profits, Study Finds | HuffPost
The Trump tax cuts have had no real impact on any of the goals it was purportedly designed to achieve, including this one: Multinational companies based in the U.S. and elsewhere hide close to 40 percent of their foreign profits in overseas tax havens, according to a new study, and the massive U.S. corporate tax…
Just 500: The Goldman Sachs–Paul Tudor Jones values-driven investment fund seems good, actually.
[A]fter years of increasingly pointless ETFs being created to almost no acclaim, a new and attractive ETF has launched, one that well-advised normal people might soon be putting a lot of money into. The product in question is called the JUST U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF, it trades under the ticker symbol JUST, and it’s…
The Bogus “Main Street Investors” Group Digs in Deeper
Posted on the Harvard corporate governance blog: A new shareholder advocacy group has been formed, the Main Street Investors Coalition. The Coalition aims to mitigate the adverse effects created by the concentration of shareholder voting power that now resides in the hands of mutual fund advisors. This concentration has developed because of the growing popularity…
UK’s biggest firms will have to justify pay gap between bosses and their workers – GOV.UK
For the first time ever, listed companies will legally be required to annually publish and justify pay difference between chief executives and their staff the directors of all large companies will also have to set out how they are acting in the interests of employees and shareholders reporting is part of the government’s modern Industrial…
