Corporate Board articles from November 2004

Corporate Board archives from November 2004

Board assessment: designing the process.
November 1, 2004... With board self-assessment and evaluation becoming a fact of corporate life, the actual mechanics of effective assessment are a growing concern. What are the most common techniques? How do you design the process? How can you assure that...

Audit committees: smart questions and smart answers.
November 1, 2004... Audit committee directors have painfully learned that they must ask probing, intelligent questions of management and company auditors. However, what sort of answers are yon receiving? Are they direct, complete and forthcoming? Or are they vague...

Top ten D&O coverage issues.(director and officer insurance)
November 1, 2004... After years of soaring prices and tight limits for director and officer insurance, the D&O market is finally shifting back toward buyers. However, bigger problems than price may be hidden away in your D&O coverage--problems that could leave you...

The real IMPACT of stock dilution.(calculating overhang from employee long term incentive plans)
November 1, 2004... While the business press looks at the issue of stock options from the executive pay and expensing angle, large investors are more concerned with options' "overhang" impact--how big mega-option plans could dilute their share holdings. The...

The independent director as ombudsman.
November 1, 2004... Corporate boards now require an effective mechanism to field complaints of corporate irregularities. Also, they need much more effective tools for assuring that the information they receive is complete and accurate. What if the board were to...

Sarbanes-Oxley compliance cost estimates soar.(Audit)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Complying with Section 404 of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act will cost public companies an average 62 percent more than previously anticipated, according to a survey by Financial Executives International (FEI). The increase in Section 404 compliance...

Women directors continue their boardroom advance.(Boardroom Composition)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Research by Spencer Stuart, the global executive recruiting firm, reveals a significant increase in new women directors in 2004. Of the 443 new independent directors reported in S&P 500 company proxies in 2004, 105, or 24 percent, were...

Directors earn more for a tougher job.(Compensation & Recruitment)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Board compensation grew 13 percent to nearly $176,000 in 2003, as leading corporations moved to adapt director pay programs to a radically changed boardroom environment. The increase follows two straight years in which board pay at the top 200...

Funding for pension plans improves worldwide.(Pensions & Benefits)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The funded status of benchmark pension plans improved in all markets except Brazil in the second quarter of 2004, according to a Towers Perrin analysis of defined benefit pension plans in selected countries. The increase in plan funding...

GMI release new global governance ratings.(Shareholders & Investors)(GovernanceMetrics International)
November 1, 2004... GovernanceMetrics International, the corporate governance research and ratings agency, in September released new ratings on 2,588 global companies. Twenty-six companies--twenty American, five Canadian, and one Australian-received scores of...

Governance reforms gain acceptance, but compliance burdens remain.(Strategy & Finance)
November 1, 2004... Corporate governance reforms have been broadly accepted by senior business leaders worldwide, according to Hill & Knowlton's annual survey of global management on business reputation issues. According to the study, corporate leaders have...

Five years ago in The Corporate Board.(Retrospectives)
November 1, 2004... I believe that we are at the beginning of one of the most difficult aspects of reforming the international financial architecture. The standards and principles now being shaped at the international level must be turned into more precise...

Ten years ago in The Corporate Board.(Retrospectives)
November 1, 2004... The boards of publicly held companies have substantial majorities of independent directors. The new challenge is to find ways shareholders can enjoy the benefits of this independence. Without the opportunity for outside directors to meet apart...

Books received.(The Recurrent Crisis in Corporate Governance)(The Myth of Leadership)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The Recurrent Crisis in Corporate Governance. By Paul W. MacAvoy and Ira M. Millstein. Stanford University Press. $19.95. A new paperback edition of the author's influential governance critique from last year, this book offers thought analyses...

Articles & speeches.(Spoken & Written)
November 1, 2004... One example of CEO self-assurance revealed itself at Gillette. The company missed Wall Street forecasts for 14 quarters before Jim Kilts became CEO in 2001. Mr. Kilts refused to provide specific earnings guidance. Predictably, analysts...

Recent board elections.(Directors' Register)
November 1, 2004... Albertson's, Inc. has elected to its board Kathi P. Seifert, former executive vice president of Kimberly-Clark Corporation. American Physicians Capital, Inc. has elected to its board Daniel L. Gorman, sole practitioner in the Law Offices of...

Robert A.G. Monks: turning of the governance tide?(Conversations)(Interview)
November 1, 2004... Look at any corporate governance landmark in the past two decades and you will likely find Robert A.G. Monks involved. Monks has long been at the center of world governance reform--from his leadership of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Program...