ASIC to Raise Standards on Directors' Commentary in Annual Reports
Wednesday 11 July 2012 @ 3.50 p.m. | Corporate & Regulatory
The Australian newspoaper reports that Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) is considering applying more exacting standards to the quality of directors' commentary in annual reports.
The Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) s 299A already requires directors to include broad commentary on the strategy and future direction of the company, but ASIC following a review of over 100 companies in 2011 suspects that in many cases the boards are boards of many corporations are only paying only “lip-service” to the requirements of s 299A. ASIC cites the "lack of meaningful disclosure" in annual reports, "including the extent of meaningful analysis of underlying drivers of results" including poor disclosure of business strategies and future prospects as cause for its concern.
ASIC is reported by the Australian as intending to take this issue further with market and then "Having consulted with the market, we [sic] plan to issue a regulatory guide later in the year which sets out our guidance on disclosing useful and meaningful information within the OFR for the benefit of investors and other market participants."
Timebase's Corporations Point-in-Time Service allows subscribers to view complete histories of legislative provisions, compare changes over time and search for relevant content at any date. Contact TimeBase for a free trial.
