Corporate Governance ... Lisbon Stirs the Debate

Sir Adrian Cadbury, chairman of the UK Committee on the Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance (popularly known as the Cadbury Report) and currently chancellor of Aston University, Birmingham and Antonio Borges, a former deputy governor of the Bank of Portugal and former INSEAD dean who is managing director of Goldman Sachs International and chairman of the European Corporate Governance Institute, were the keynote speakers at the second EBF LIVE 'Roundtable' event held in Lisbon on November 22nd, 2002.

The debate--in front of an elite group of senior Portuguese chairmen and chief executives, policymakers and business advisers--was opened by Joao Belchior Nunes, Country Senior Partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers. It was moderated by Tim Dickson, executive editor of EBF. The following is an edited summary of proceedings.

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Joao Belchior Nunes

* It is fundamental that companies' accounts must present a fair view of their financial position. In PricewaterhouseCoopers it is even felt that the information given to the shareholders should be expanded to cover aspects of the industries where the companies operate and also some further data on some specific subjects of the companies, such as companies' strategy, R & D activity, human capital policies, training programmes, products.

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* The greater the quantity and quality of data disclosed to shareholders, the more the latter will benefit. However, it is not obvious that investors use the financial information to support their investment decisions. Otherwise, the capital markets would never reach unrealistic values from time to time. The crash had to occur--although the Enron and WorldCom cases …

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Publication information: Article title: Corporate Governance ... Lisbon Stirs the Debate. Contributors: Not available. Magazine title: European Business Forum. Issue: 12 Publication date: Winter 2002. Page number: 36+. © 2008 Caspian Publishing Ltd. COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group.

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