Royal Dutch Shell is to pay $381 million plus interest to a foundation representing over 150 institutional investors in nineteen countries. The settlement, following a binding declaration by the Amsterdam Court of Appeals, is considered to be a milestone, given …

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Manifest’s campaign to ensure shareholders at Irish companies have the opportunity to cast an advisory vote on the remuneration report gathered momentum over the weekend, with a full page article in the Irish edition of The Sunday Times.  Last month …

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As investors brace themselves for a slew of Japanese AGM meetings (the overwhelming majority of AGMs seem set to be held between 23 and 26 June), a compromise has emerged between the Keidanren (Japan’s business lobby) and the Japanese Ministry

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Beale and Company solicitors have published research which has found that only 17% of 100 audit firms had managed to agree a contract with a client to limit their liability for damages. A report in Accountancy Age cited the research, …

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United Kingdom

The Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform has published a revised draft of the regulations to implement the Shareholder Rights Directive. Please send any final comments on the revised draft regulations to Kate Gillies (kate.gillies@berr.gsi.gov.uk) by Friday …

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The dominance of the Big 4 audit firms continues to be a cause for concern according to a report by the UK’s reporting and governance watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council. The FRC has published the third of its Progress Reports …

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Owners of USA Inc today (May 20)  got the news they’ve been waiting for – the SEC has voted to propose new rules which will enable them to nominate their own board candidates. The proposal was passed in a narrow …

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The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled with online job search portal, Monster Worldwide, Inc. for its multi-year scheme to secretly backdate stock options granted to thousands of Monster officers, directors and employees. Without admitting liability, Monster has agreed to …

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GlaxoSmithKline’s May 20th AGM will be asking shareholders to exempt the auditor partner from signing the audit in his or her own name,  the first such case noted by Manifest.

The company says that, ‘For many years, the Company and …

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European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has gone public with his concerns about role and structure of the International Accounting Standards Board. In his usual direct way McCreevy has pointed out that: “Accounting is now far too important to be left solely …

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