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Your business is moving fast. You need to assess new developments quickly, determine if they apply to your business, and act accordingly. The Ticker is designed to focus your attention on key developments in the areas of SEC compliance, capital markets, corporate governance, executive compensation and other matters important to public companies and their officers and directors. Below are summaries of recent developments in these areas.
On September 18, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) released the results of its 2018 Governance Principles Survey. The annual survey is open to institutional investors, corporate executives, board members and other interested constituencies. The survey addressed a number of hot button corporate governance issues, including director gender diversity, auditor and audit committee selection, and director accountability.
The survey found an increasing number of respondents noted that a lack of at least one woman on a board indicated a problematic board recruitment process, including 80 percent of investor respondents. ISS also asked respondents about the factors they consider when evaluating the selection of audit firms. Regulatory fines and penalties and significant audit controversies were the considerations most cited by investors. With respect to director accountability, respondents favored ISS providing information regarding failures of governance oversight at other companies on which a director has served as an additional means of analyzing director elections.