GMI Blog-“Academic Research Validates Relevance of GMI Ratings’ Accounting & Governance Risk”

The following entry appeared as part of Governance Metrics International’s GMI Blog. GMI is the leading independent provider of global corporate governance and ESG ratings and research. Corporate stakeholders – including leading investors, insurers, auditors, regulators and others – use GovernanceMetrics services to identify and monitor risks related to non-financial measures covering key environmental, social, governance and accounting risk factors.

IRRC-Tapestry Report: “Voting Decisions at US Mutual Funds: How Investors Really Use Proxy Advisers”

Key findings of the interview-based research include:

1. Proxy firms’ role as data aggregators become increasingly important to asset managers
2. Proxy advisers’ influence extends well beyond the moment of voting, but mutual funds consider multiple factors
3. Asset managers have wide range of approaches to decision-making across the voting process
4.Three questions about level of internal deliberation on voting matters can help outside observers evaluate independence of asset managers' decisions

Women on Boards: Review and Outlook (The Conference Board)

Gender diversity in the boardroom is an issue of increasing interest for shareholders of U.S. corporations. This report examines the prevalence of women directors in the Fortune 1000 and an additional 1,000 midcap companies. It also offers recommendations gleaned from interviews with more than 50 directors, CEOs, chief human resource officers, and governance experts for boards looking to recruit women directors and for women interested in serving on boards.

Registered users may download here: