TheCorporateCounsel.net does a fantastic job, so I’m happy to give them an occasional shout out, especially for the following two items: (more…)
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A Sociologist Examines the Limitations of Behavioral Finance
James McRitchie, 09/25/2012 ,
Guest post from Brooke Harrington, Associate professor, Department of Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. The post was originally published as On the Limitations of Behavioral Finance at Economic Sociology, 10/31/2010. I found it to be as timely as ever. (more…)
Corporate Governance Indices Coming Soon
James McRitchie, 09/24/2012 ,
GMI Ratings signed a licensing agreement with Global Index Group to develop corporate governance indices. The new set of indices will incorporate non-traditional risk metrics developed by GMI Ratings. (more…)
Video Friday: James Copland Discusses 2012 Proxy Proposals
James McRitchie, 09/21/2012 ,
On This Week in the Boardroom (TWIB) James Copland, Director & Senior Fellow with the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Legal Policy, sits down with host, Scott Cutler, Executive Vice President, NYSE Euronext to review the results of Proxy Monitor 2012: A Report on Corporate Governance and Shareholder Activism. (more…)
FedEx (FDX): How I Voted – Proxy Score 69%
James McRitchie, 09/20/2012 ,
FedEx ($FDX) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 9/24/2012. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of four funds when I voted on 9/18/2012. (A fifth fund is now reporting.) I voted with management 69% of the time. (more…)
SEC's IAC Seeks Input for Agenda
James McRitchie, 09/19/2012 ,
The Dodd-Frank Act established the Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) to advise the Securities and Exchange Commission on regulatory priorities, the regulation of securities products, trading strategies, fee structures, the effectiveness of disclosure, and on initiatives to protect investor interests and to promote investor confidence and the integrity of the securities marketplace. The IAC met for […]
Responsible Wealth Targets Being Selected
James McRitchie, 09/18/2012 ,
Fall is filing time for Responsible Wealth’s annual shareholder resolutions. Currently, Mike Lapham is working with the Center for Political Accountability to identify which corporations Responsible Wealth will file resolutions with. (more…)
Notable CorpGov Bites
James McRitchie, 09/16/2012 ,
Four articles worth reading are linked below. ProxyMonitor.org, a website sponsored by the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Legal Policy, sheds light on the influence of outside shareholder proposals on publicly traded corporations. Their slant is fairly obvious in their latest Proxy Monitor Report, Fall 2012, but the data is worth reviewing. (more…)
Trading Cards
James McRitchie, 09/13/2012 ,
I’m on vacation but here’s part of Broc Romanek‘s post from yesterday on SEC Trading Commissioner Cards and a great cartoon by Hank Blaustein, which you can buy from Grant’s Interest Rate Observer for $150, signed by the artist, probably a better investment than most stocks. Simon Billenness, Consultant, Corporate Responsibility and Socially Responsible Investment, […]
H&R Block: I Voted for Proxy Access
James McRitchie, 09/05/2012 ,
H&R Block ($HRB) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 9/13/2012. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of two funds when I voted on 9/5/2012. I voted with management 40% of the time but in complete alignment with CalSTRS. I generally vote against pay packages where NEOs were paid above median in […]
Proxy Advisors Often Ignored: Yet, Concerns Continue
James McRitchie, 09/04/2012 ,
FT.com reported, contrary to many perceptions, that investors in the UK’s largest companies often ignored the guidance of proxy advisers when voting on pay issues. After votes at WPP, Xstrata and Prudential, some company executives complained that advisers carried too much influence. (Investors not tied to proxy advisers, 8/26/2012) (more…)
Video Friday: Clawback Invoked
James McRitchie, 08/31/2012 ,
With the passage of the Dodd-Frank and the Sarbanes Oxley Acts, clawback policies have become increasingly prevalent among public companies. However, it is rare to find a company actually put a clawback policy into effect. Citing Equilar’s findings from the 2012 Clawback Policies Report, we review what a clawback policy is and we examine what […]
Modeling Black Swans
James McRitchie, 08/29/2012 ,
GMI Ratings has long maintained that the increasing frequency of Black Swan events in capital markets will continue to challenge traditional approaches to risk modeling and portfolio management. For at least the past two decades, doubts have been mounting about the ability of classical economic theories and portfolio management philosophies to reliably describe, explain or […]
Pershing Square's Battle Over CP Argues for Proxy Access & Alternative Proxy Advice
James McRitchie, 08/28/2012 ,
After his victory at Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), Ackman claimed “Directors are sitting up more straight and reading board materials more carefully and questioning the CEO more intently. That is a very, very good thing.” Who can argue with that? But will better posture, thorough reading of thousands of pages of board materials and asking more […]
Increased Disclosure Needed for Open-Market Repurchases
James McRitchie, 08/27/2012 ,
Insider Trading via the Corporation, by Jesse M. Fried of the Harvard Law School, examines the regulations applicable to U.S. firms trading in their own shares and puts forward a proposal for reform that I hope will be recommended to the SEC by the SEC Investor Advisory Committee (SECIAC), along with other recommendations I made in this June post, If […]
Video Friday: The Voice of Students & Power of Endowments
James McRitchie, 08/24/2012 ,
On February 15th, the Responsible Endowments Coalition honored Anuradha Mittal, the Executive Director of the Oakland Institute. Anuradha spoke about university investments in land grabs—the act of buying up vast tracts of land in poor countries that often result in environmental destruction and violations of human rights. (more…)
Director Elections: Shareowners Still Relatively Powerless
James McRitchie, 08/23/2012 ,
In theory, throwing out current directors and/or electing new candidates through their proxy votes is the most important function of shareowners with respect to corporate governance. That’s how we hold our agents accountable. In practice, shareowners look like powerless wimps, even at companies with majority or plurality plus resignation election standards. At least that is […]
Medtronic: How I Voted – Proxy Score 47
James McRitchie, 08/20/2012 ,
Medtronic ($MDT) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 8/23/2012. ProxyDemocracy.org had collected the votes of 5 funds when I voted on 8/18/2012. I voted with management 47% of the time. (more…)
Costco: Proxy Advisor Contest Proposed
James McRitchie, 08/14/2012 ,
My wife, Myra Young, submitted a proxy proposal to Costco aimed at establishing a new and innovative way for shareowners to obtain proxy voting advice. The proposal would set up a contest, pay for proxy advice out of entry fees and corporate funds, and would then share the advice of four winners with all Costco shareowners. […]
Video Friday: CalSTRs & CalPERS
James McRitchie, 08/10/2012 ,
Corporate governance leaders from both sides of the Sacramento River speak out on shareowner values. (more…)
Indian Mutual Funds Need to Improve Proxy Voting Policies and Practices
James McRitchie, 08/09/2012 ,
India’s InGovern Research Services Pvt. Ltd. “assists financial institutions and investors that have financial, investment or reputational exposure to public-listed companies in India by providing our clients with corporate governance reports, proxy analysis and proxy voting solutions.” Their recent report, Analysis of Mutual Funds Voting for 2011-12, finds little progress when it comes to mutual funds participating in […]
Influence ISS: Take Their Survey
James McRitchie, 08/08/2012 ,
ISS influences how funds vote their proxies. Here is your chance to influence them. Take their 2013 policy survey online by August 17th or regret your failure to act all next proxy season. You don’t have to be an ISS customer, although it probably helps. (more…)
CalSTRS & Florida SBA Advance Shareowner Rights
James McRitchie, 08/06/2012 ,
Two of my favorite funds, CalSTRS and Florida SBA whose proxy votes are reported on ProxyDemocracy, released statements to the press about accomplishments this proxy season. Their accomplishments are impressive by any standard. (more…)
ESG Investing at University Endowments: Next Steps
James McRitchie, 07/31/2012 ,
A new report, Environmental, Social and Governance Investing by College and University Endowments in the United States, finds environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) efforts by endowments are less prevalent than often believed, particularly given their history as pioneers dating back to 1970s anti-apartheid campaigns. These findings are particularly surprising at a time when ESG factors are increasingly factored […]
Kay Review Recommendations
James McRitchie, 07/30/2012 ,
The UK backed Kay Review of UK Equity Markets and Long-Term Decision Making was commissioned by Business Secretary Vince Cable after the takeover of Cadbury by Kraft, which many thought was driven by short-term investors. After examination the Report made several recommendations that could improve the long-term focus fund returns if properly implemented. (more…)
Video Friday: Proxy Access
James McRitchie, 07/27/2012 ,
Glen Schleyer and The Deal Pipeline’s David Marcus discuss how shareholder proxy access is affecting the dynamic between large long-term shareholders and boards of directors. (more…)
Book Review: Owning Our Future
James McRitchie, 07/26/2012 ,
Marjorie Kelly is the rarest of authors, discussing some of the most difficult problems we face but doing so through an easily understood narrative of her own search for answers that is bound to draw in readers from a wide variety of backgrounds. Her analysis is insightful and the recommendations contained in Owning Our Future: […]
Notes From SEC's 14a-8 Stakeholder Meeting
James McRitchie, 07/25/2012 ,
Last week I attended an SEC meeting with “key stakeholders in the shareholder proposal process to engage in an open and productive dialogue” about the staff’s involvement in the process. (my emphasis) From the invitation: (more…)
2012 Proxy Season Review
James McRitchie, 07/24/2012 ,
James Morphy, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, has written a fairly thorough report of the 2012 proxy season, available as a pdf. I mention it here primarily to bookmark it. (more…)
Steris (STE): How I Voted – Proxy Score 100
James McRitchie, 07/23/2012 ,
Steris ($STE) is one of the stocks in my portfolio. Their annual meeting is coming up on 7/26/2012. ProxyDemocracy.org had information on 1 fund voting. I voted with management 100% of the time. (more…)
Video Friday: Roger Martin – Fixing the Game
James McRitchie, 07/20/2012 ,
The common belief that firms exists to maximize shareholder value has led to massive growth in stock-based compensation for executives and a naive and wrongheaded coupling of the “real” market (the business of designing, making and selling products and services) with the “expectations” market (the business of trading stocks, options and complex derivatives). It’s a […]
New Pay Comparison Tool From Stanford
James McRitchie, 07/19/2012 ,
Aligning CEO pay with shareowner value is key for many. A new tool (at least new to me), the Compensation and Wealth Calculator, from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Corporate Governance Research Program, allows users to see how the compensation of CEOs and other NEOs, which they have already received over the years in the form […]
The Problem with Pay for Performance
James McRitchie, 07/18/2012 ,
How Not to Argue for Bonuses. Reprinted with permission from PIRC Alerts, 17 July 2012. PIRC is the UK’s leading independent research and advisory consultancy providing services to institutional investors on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. (more…)
Co-ops, Shareholder Engagement, Swedish CEOs & Split Roles
James McRitchie, 07/17/2012 ,
Important news tidbits you may have missed. The co-operative sector in the UK, which reached £35.6 billion, outperformed the mainstream economy from 2008 to 2011 by over 20 per cent, growing 19.6% while (more…)
Failed SOP Companies Become Targets
James McRitchie, 07/16/2012 ,
For future reference, I’m bookmarking 2012 Say-on-Pay Votes: Fulfilled Expectations, Though Not Without Surprises by Shirley Westcott of Alliance Advisors, LLC, originally published in the corporate governance newsletter VIPsight. (more…)