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Sarbanes-Oxley News & Developments
Good Governance Begins At HomeDelta, Tyco make moves with an eye to pleasing shareholders.
> > The current widespread revamping of corporate-governance plans is likely to be merely a matter of regulatory compliance for many companies: marching to the tune of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and NYSE or Nasdaq rules. But sometimes the governance-related moves are a strictly voluntary response to the demands of a different set of drummers: the companies shareholders. For example, along with governance moves done to bring its board up to scruff with Sarbox and NYSE strictures, Delta Air Lines has voluntarily acted on a couple of non-binding shareholder proposals that received majority votes at its 2003 annual meeting. Among the moves Delta plans to make is to seek shareowner approval for future executive-severance agreements that provide benefits of more than 2.99 times the sum of the salary plus bonus of the executive. Delta also plans to expense stock options.
Tyco International Ltd., which has been widely criticized for being based in the tax-haven Bermuda, will hold its next annual meeting in March in the United States. Of course, this does not change the tax status, which it is trying to rebound from its accounting scandal. Former chairman Dennis Kozlowski and former CFO Mark Swartz are currently on trial for stealing $600 million from the company. Critics have claimed that if Tyco were domiciled in the US, shareholders would have more protection from corporate and executive wrongdoing.
Source: CFO
Published:2003-12-15
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