The Relationship between Corporate Governance, Transparency and Financial DisclosureIntroductionCorporate governance has evolved and grown significantly in the last decade.Numerous countries have issued corporate governance codes and the recommendations of these codes that typify ‘good’corporate governance undoubtedly contribute towards increased transparency and disclosure.Following the Enron collapse there has been an increased emphasis on various aspects of corporate governance, including transparency and disclosure aspects.With the internationalisation of cross-border portfolios, and the financial crises that have occurred in many parts of the world, it is perhaps not surprising that institutional investors in particular increasingly look more carefully at the corporate governance of companies.After all, corporate governance goes hand in hand with increased transparency and accountability.This increased transparency and accountability should, of itself, lead to a better flow of foreign direct investment and more stable financial markets.Transparency and disclosureIn order to understand why good corporate governance practices can contribute towards increased transparency and financial disclosure,encourage a better flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) and lead to more stable financial markets,it is useful to refer to the OECD (1998a) principles which identify the key elements of good corporate governance: . Rights and obligations of the shareholders. Equitable treatment of shareholders.·Role of stakeholders and corporate governance. Transparency, disclosure of information and audit. Board of directors. Non-executive members of the board. Executive management, compensation and performanceFor the purpose of this piece, the section on transparency and disclosure is detailed below.Transparency, disclosure of information and audit. Corporate governance framework should ensure the full,timely and detailed disclosure of information on all material matters,including its financial situation,performance,ownership structure and governance of the corporation.. Includes establishment of (internal) audit committee.. Transparency/disclosure includes disclosure of information on:– financial/operating results– ownership structure– members of Board of Directors and management– quantitative and qualitative matters concerning employees and other stakeholders in the corporation– governance structures and policies– corporate targets and prospects– execution of unusual and complex transactions,transactions on derivative products and their level of risk.The disclosures mentioned above are clearly fundamental to ensuring that the shareholdershave important information on key aspects of the business.The OECD (1998b) sums up well the value of good corporate governance in its report on Corporate Governance:Improving Competitiveness and Access to Capital in Global Markets, which highlighted the importance of transparency and disclosure:‘‘The disclosure of the corporation’s contractual and governance structures may reduce uncertainties for investors and help lower capital costs by decreasing related risk premia.Such transparency may also encourage a common understanding of the‘rules of the game’and provide employees with information that may help reduce labour friction’’.Corporate governance may also be used as a key to help restore investor confidence in markets that have experienced financial crises. We have seen this happening in the last few years in Malaysia, Japan and Russia,for example.In these countries,as in a number of other countries that have similarly been affected by a lack of investor confidence,particularly overseas investor confidence，new or improved corporate governance practices have been introduced. Key features of these changes include measures to try to improve investor confidence by improving transparency and accountability in these markets.Transparency and disclosure in corporate governance rating systems Corporate governance rating systems include transparency and disclosure as an important element in their rating systems.For example,Deminor state ‘‘information to shareholders is one of the most important aspects of corporate governance, as it reflects the degree of transparency and accountability of the corporation towards its shareholders’’.The ‘‘disclosure’’category looks at the transparency of a corporation as measured by the quantity and quality of the publicly available information on the governance structure.In the case of the Standard and Poor’s corporate governance rating, the scores from 10 (highest) to 1 (lowest) will be awarded to each of four individual components that together contribute to the overall corporate governance score.The individual components are:(i) ownership structure and influence(ii) financial stakeholder relations(iii) financial transparency and information disclosure(iv) board management structure and process.In relation to ‘‘financial transparency and disclosure’’,the criteria examined are the type of public disclosure standards adopted; the timing of, and access to, public disclosure; and independence and standing of the auditor.Other corporate governance ratings systems such as GovernanceMetrics and the Corporate Library’s Board Analyst service are currently being developed and finalised for launch.The latter service will grade boards . Interestingly, accounting issues will be overweighted in the analysis so that companies with a history of special charges or poor audit practices will rapidly acquire a poor grade.A desire for improved transparency and accountability to help inter alia to ensure that companies are perceived as attractive investments,has led to significant corporate governance reform in countries as diverse as Greece,Poland, Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.Concluding commentsWhilst it is important to recognise that ‘‘no single universal model of corporate governance exists nor is there a static, final structurein corporate governance that every country or enterprise should emulate’’ (CACG, 2000),it is also fair to say that transparency and disclosure are key attributes of any model of good corporate governance.Surveys of investor opinion highlight the importance of transparency and disclosure in a good corporate governance system. Additionally, 此外，the corporate governance ratings systems mentioned above all include disclosure and transparency aspects as part of a core assessment of good corporate governance– and rightly so.For without transparency and disclosure,shareholders and stakeholders would not be able to assess how,and in what manner,the company was being managed,and hence accountability would not exist in any meaningful way.It is appropriate to conclude with a quote from Arthur Levitt, who sums up succinctly the importance of the relationship between good corporate governance,transparency and disclosure,and the consequent impact on foreign direct investment and economic growth if these attributes are lacking:‘‘If a country does not have a reputation for strong corporate governance practices,capital will flow elsewhere.If investors are not confident with the level of disclosure,capital will flow elsewhere. If a country opts for lax accounting and reporting standards,capital will flow elsewhere. All enterprises in that country – regardless of how steadfast a particular company’s practices may be – suffer the consequencesReferences CACG (2000) Principles for Corporate Governance in the Commonwealth. New Zealand: Commonwealth Association for Corporate Governance. OECD (1998a) Global Corporate Governance Principles.Paris: OECD. OECD (1998b) Corporate Governance: Improving Competitiveness and Access to Capital in Global Markets. Paris: OECD.公司高層在經(jīng)營管理中的道德標(biāo)準和財務(wù)狀況披露透明度的關(guān)系1 介紹 在過去的十年里，公司的治理無論從道德標(biāo)準還是透明度上都具有很大程度的提高，財務(wù)披露的重要性也在逐步增強。很多國家已經(jīng)開始發(fā)行公司治理準則和創(chuàng)辦“優(yōu)質(zhì)”公司治理方法的建議。這些做法無疑有助于增加財務(wù)狀況信息披露透明度。自安然公司倒閉之后，社會已經(jīng)逐步重視公司治理的各個方面，尤其是公司經(jīng)營的透明度以及會計信息披露的準確。隨著投資方式的國際化以及金融危機在世界各地的發(fā)生，越來越多機構(gòu)投資者越來越關(guān)注公司的治理。畢竟，公司高層如果能夠增強公司經(jīng)營情況的透明度和問責(zé)機制，無疑可以構(gòu)建一個更好的穩(wěn)定的全球金融流通的金融市場。2 信息披露的透明度 為了理解“為什么好的公司治理能夠提高財務(wù)披露的透明度，擴大對外直接投資，建立更穩(wěn)定的金融市場”，不得不提及的經(jīng)濟合作發(fā)展組織（1998年）原則，這些是確定公司良好治理的關(guān)鍵要素： 1）股東的權(quán)力和義務(wù) 2）對股東的公平待遇。 3）利益相關(guān)者與公司治理中的作用 4）透明度，信息披露和審計 5）董事會 6）非執(zhí)行董事成員 7）行政管理，薪酬與績效 這部分的意義，關(guān)于透明度和信息披露詳見下面。透明度，信息披露和審計，應(yīng)確保有充分的公司架構(gòu)，及時地披露所有的重大事項，包括其財務(wù)狀況，性能，公司股權(quán)結(jié)構(gòu)，與公司治理，包括建立（內(nèi)部）審計委員會。透明的信息披露包括的內(nèi)容： – 財務(wù)操作的結(jié)果 – 股權(quán)結(jié)構(gòu) – 董事會及管理層成員 – 定性定量地處理公司員工和股東事宜 – 治理結(jié)構(gòu)和政策 – 公司的目標(biāo)和前景– 執(zhí)行不尋常的和復(fù)雜的交易和處理衍生產(chǎn)品交易和風(fēng)險水平。 上述羅列要素是對股東所做的關(guān)鍵業(yè)務(wù)方面的基本保證。經(jīng)濟合作發(fā)展組織（1998年）總結(jié)，一個良好的公司治理報告應(yīng)具備以下價值：提高競爭力和在全球市場上增加資本，這增加了透明度和信息披露的重要性：“披露公司的報表和治理結(jié)構(gòu)能夠減少投資者的不確定性，相關(guān)的風(fēng)險溢價和資本成本也會相應(yīng)降低。這種透明度也可以理解為一種共同的游戲規(guī)則, 員工提供可能有助于降低勞動糾紛信息?！惫局卫硪部梢杂脕韼椭謴?fù)投資者對金融市場的信心，這也是度過金融危機的一個關(guān)鍵。舉個例子，近幾年在馬來西亞、日本和俄羅斯，我們經(jīng)常能看到這樣的事情發(fā)生。其他很多國家，也同樣有因為投資者信心不足而影響金融市場的發(fā)展，特別是海外投資者的信心。這些改進過的治理，通過實踐得到了證實，其主要特點是努力實施使市場的透明度增加和問責(zé)制的措施，以此提高投資者的信心。 在公司治理評級系統(tǒng)中，透明度和信息披露是其中的的一個重要組成部分。例如，戴米諾的狀態(tài)“信息對于股東而言，是管理企業(yè)最重要的方面之一，因為它在一定程度上反映了該公司對其他股東的透明度和問責(zé)性''?！芭丁鳖悇e主要看管治架構(gòu)的公開資料的數(shù)量和質(zhì)量，以此作為衡量一個企業(yè)的透明度的標(biāo)準。 標(biāo)準普爾的公司治理評級的情況是確立從10（最高）到1（最低）的分數(shù)，分別給以下四個部分打分，再綜合四項評分作為總分。這四個組成部分是： 1）所有制結(jié)構(gòu)和影響 2）金融利益相關(guān)者的關(guān)系 3)財務(wù)的透明度和信息披露 4)管理結(jié)構(gòu)和過程 在“財務(wù)透明度和信息披露”中，公開披露有以下標(biāo)準：標(biāo)準檢查、公開披露的時間、審計師的地位以及其獨立性。如GovernanceMetrics的企業(yè)管制評級系統(tǒng)，和企業(yè)庫董事會分析員服務(wù)目前正在開發(fā)并推出定稿?！瓵’’ through ‘‘F’’這個系統(tǒng)的評級是由字母“A”到字母“F”。有趣的是，會計問題將在分析環(huán)節(jié)過于重視，以至于公司歷史尤其是特別費用或較差的審計實踐的歷史，使公司評級迅速差了一個檔次。渴望提高透明度和問責(zé)，幫助其中包括以確保公司被視為有吸引力的投資，已經(jīng)導(dǎo)致希臘，波蘭，日本，香港和馬來西亞等不同國家在重大的公司治理改革。結(jié)論雖然，最重要的是要認識到：“沒有獨立通用的公司，存在或者一直固定一個模式。在公司里，最終結(jié)構(gòu)每個國家或者企業(yè)都應(yīng)該效仿的。''公平地說，透明度和信息披露也是任何規(guī)模的企業(yè)良好管治的關(guān)鍵屬性。投資者的意見調(diào)查顯示在良好的公司治理制度的透明度和信息披露的重要性。上面提到的所有公司治理評級系統(tǒng)包括信息披露和透明度方面，作為良好企業(yè)管治的核心評估的一部分——是正確的。對于不透明度和信息披露，股東和利益相關(guān)者將無法評估如何，并以什么樣的方式，公司被管理，因此，問責(zé)就不會存在任何有意義的方式。是合適結(jié)束阿瑟·萊維特報價，簡明扼要地總結(jié)了良好的企業(yè)管治之間的關(guān)系的重要性，透明度和信息披露，以及隨之而來的對外國直接投資和經(jīng)濟增長的影響，如果缺乏這些屬性：“如果一個國家沒有強大的企業(yè)管治常規(guī)的聲譽，資金會流向別處。 如果投資者沒有信心披露水平，資金會流向別處。如果一個國家選擇寬松的會計和報告標(biāo)準，資金會流向別處。 所有在該國的企業(yè) - 不管多么堅定一個特定公司的做法可能是 - 自食其果參考文獻CACG（2000）企業(yè)管治的原則在英聯(lián)邦。新西蘭：英聯(lián)邦公司治理協(xié)會。 經(jīng)濟合作與發(fā)展組織（1998年）全球企業(yè)管治Principles.Paris：經(jīng)濟合作與發(fā)展組織。 經(jīng)濟合作與發(fā)展組織（1998年）公司治理：提高競爭力和在全球市場獲得資金。巴黎：經(jīng)濟合作與發(fā)展組織。