SEC mandates online proxy materials

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has voted to make all companies post their annual meeting materials on their websites. Details won’t be known until the SEC posts the final rule but large companies will have to post their proxy materials on the web starting January 1, 2008 and smaller companies will have to comply a year later (refer to the IR Web Report).

World Federation of Exchanges supports IFRS

Responding to a consultation paper of the IOSCO Technical Committee, the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) explained the importance of sound financial reporting to public capital markets. It reaffirmed the WFE's strong support of IFRS. The WFE is the global organisation of 54 regulated exchanges from all regions of the world that account for over 97% of world stock market capitalization.

The simple complexity of XBRL

At a recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Reporting Institute Conference in California, Robert Herz, chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, said that one complication involved with implementing eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is the difference between US accounting standards and those abroad. That means that both US GAAP and IFRS have different data "tags," which adds to the cost and confusion of using XBRL (view the full article).

IFAC global survey on financial reporting

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has invited all participants in the financial reporting supply chain (including investors and other users of financial reports, standard setters, preparers, auditors, academics and regulators) to complete a global survey designed to obtain information that could strengthen the financial reporting process. The survey is open until July 6, 2007. It is part of an IFAC project to develop recommendations for improving the quality of corporate governance, financial reporting (including IFRS) and financial auditing. It will also include in-depth one-on-one interviews. Participants are asked to complete the survey online (www.ifac.org/financialreportingsurvey/).

10th Annual Global CEO Survey

PricewaterhouseCoopers has issued its 10th Annual Global CEO Survey. The survey (Figure 1.3) illustrates management’s rankings of the risks they face. Topping the list are overregulation and the availability of key skills, followed closely by low-cost competition and raw material costs. Terrorism, by contrast, is seen as a key risk by just 50% of respondents, global warming by 40% and pandemics by 37%. Interestingly, the findings of the survey offer some insight into new and innovative solutions to some of these more systemic business and macro threats. Collaboration – often linking the public and private sectors – is starting to bring some ‘macro’ risks into manageable proportions. PWC sees this as a possible solution to what traditionally might be perceived to be an Achilles’ heel in a company’s risk management solution set.