Here's what to expect in this month's issue.
Women in corporate circles have had a pretty good year in 2011. There are now 15 women serving as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies – the most ever – and there is a feeling that more women are making their way up the ranks and into corporate boardrooms. In this issue we take a look at what increasing numbers of women on corporate boards could mean for corporate governance in our cover story, ‘Do women on boards improve governance?’ by deputy editor Aarti Maharaj.
Strong women like our cover subject Amy Cook, associate general counsel for corporate governance at Capital One Financial, are examples of the intellectual resources corporations have that are ready to help them improve earnings and efficiency – if given a chance to serve.
Looking forward, this year ends with great anticipation of next year’s proxy season, which is expected to be one of the most challenging for quite some time. We give you plenty of ammunition to attack the upcoming proxy season: first we deliver a broad look at the issues that will affect firms most in ‘Proxy outlook 2012: say on pay year two’ then we give you practical advice from the experts at one of our recent webinars in ‘Preparing for proxy season’.
We also give you an update on the proxy reform efforts in Canada as that country prepares for its 2012 proxy season. Our story ‘Summit ignites push for proxy reform’, provides highlights of what was discussed at Canada’s first ever Shareholder Democracy Summit, complete with summit organizers’ plans for follow-up meetings to keep reform efforts moving throughout 2012.
Financial scandals have been in the news a lot recently, so we’ve tried to prepare you for those as well. ‘Preventing financial crimes’ on page 18 takes a look at what companies can do to improve their internal systems against fraud and money laundering. Additionally, Brendan Sheehan details the adjustments companies will have to make to comply with the new UK Bribery Act in ‘Time to review Bribery Act compliance'.
As we close out 2011, we hope the information provided in this month's pages of Corporate Secretary has helped make things easier for you over the last tumultuous 12 months.
Want to subscribe? Click here.
