Corporate Strategy

Governance, environmental issues for AGM season

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 28 OCT 2011  |  NEWS
With the arrival of the annual general meeting (AGM) season, governance experts and sustainability researchers say that some issues at play this year will include executive remuneration and the processes around capital raisings, plus resolutions on environmental ...

75% of ASX100 exposed to corruption in high-risk countries

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 28 OCT 2011  |  NEWS
Three quarters of ASX100 companies that operate in a sector or country deemed "high-risk" for corruption, up from 56% in 2006, and Australian companies lag US, UK and European counterparts in prohibiting the giving and receiving of bribes, according ...

Three Australian companies to participate in IIRC program

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 28 OCT 2011  |  NEWS
The International Integrated Reporting Committee (IIRC) has selected National Australia Bank, Stockland and Mecu Limited and more than 40 other leading global companies as participants in a pilot program initiative to test integrated reporting (IR) standards.

Dean Paatsch launches new governance advisory firm

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 26 OCT 2011  |  NEWS
Governance experts Dean Paatsch, Martin Lawrence and Simon Connal have launched a new governance advisory business, Ownership Matters (OM).

AWE reports lower GHG emissions, underlying loss for 2011FY

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 26 OCT 2011  |  NEWS
AWE Limited, an oil and gas exploration and production company, reported a 3% decline in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to approximately 203,000 CO2-e, with production of 6.12m barrel of oil equivalent (BOE), basically the same as the 6.09m BOE production ...

Number of women on boards climbs slowly, ACSI finds

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 19 OCT 2011  |  NEWS
The number of women directors in the ASX100 continued to climb slowly in 2010, accounting for 26% of new non-executive directors and 12.2% of all directors, up from 11.1% in 2009, according to research by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors ...

Miscommunication hampers institutional vote engagement

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 14 OCT 2011  |  NEWS
Although directors, institutional share owners and proxy advisers are eager to engage, particularly in the context of the share voting process, there is a failure to communicate at key junctures with all parties, particularly during the annual general ...

New standards for measuring GHG emissions in value chain

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 14 OCT 2011  |  NEWS
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol has developed two new standards that will measure greenhouse gas emissions across companies' value chains and across product life cycles.

Business, investors get certainty as carbon package passes

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 12 OCT 2011  |  NEWS
The passage of the government's Clean Energy Future Legislation by the lower house of Parliament on Wednesday means businesses and investors have certainty around the carbon pricing regime and can plan accordingly for launch on 1 July 2012.

Analysing the link between women directors and corporate returns

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 12 OCT 2011  |  NEWS
A recent report noted that ASX500 companies with women directors had a higher average return on equity over the past three and five year time horizons, but there is no clear answer as to why this incidence seems to exist.