The Canadian Securities Administrators yesterday released the results of its compliance review of corporate governance disclosure, which ultimately characterized the level of non-compliance with National Instrument 58-101 Disclosure of Corporate Governance Practices as "unacceptable".
The CSA, which selected 72 reporting issuers for review, required 55% of issuers to make prospective enhancements to corporate governance disclosure, compared to 36% in the 2007 review. Specifically, the CSA found "significant and frequent disclosure deficiencies" with respect to such matters as issuers failing to: (i) specify the basis for determining that a director was not independent; (ii) disclose whether the board had an independent lead director; (iii) describe the measures taken by boards to orient new directors; and (iv) describe the process for identifying board candidates. For each of the identified deficiencies, the CSA provided guidance to assist reporting issuers in meeting disclosure requirements.
For more information, see CSA Staff Notice 58-306 - 2010 Corporate Governance Disclosure Compliance Review.
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