Artificial intelligence is the single-largest area that boards have devoted time to in the last year, but at the same time, only a handful of public company boards have included AI in their committee charters. Of the Russell 3000, only 24 committee charters made mention of AI or related keywords in 2023 and 2024, according…
Investors are ramping up their scrutiny of medium-term emissions reduction targets and are planning to hold boards accountable if they don’t pass muster. Proxy advisory firm ISS’s recent benchmark survey results show that a significant number of 188 investors told ISS that a lack of “realistic” medium-term emissions reduction targets for Scope 1 and 2…
The number of U.S. public companies labeled with auditor warnings about the ability to stay afloat declined overall during the 12 months ended May 31, but they rose in certain industries hard hit by the pandemic, such as transportation, construction and energy. These warnings, also called going-concern opinions, are published in the annual reports of…
As boards delve deeper into human capital oversight, employee engagement data is becoming more pertinent to directors and other senior leaders, sources say. Frequent surveys on specific engagement problem areas have replaced long, drawn-out annual employee surveys, and human resources leaders are reporting the findings up to the board as they monitor issues such as…
U.S. companies are sharing more details about employee turnover as part of new disclosure requirements. But for some investors, the effort doesn’t go far enough because finance chiefs handpick the information they provide. Workforce spending is usually the biggest expense for companies, making up on average 57% of total operating costs for S&P 500 companies,…
For the first time in 30 years, the SEC has updated its risk factor disclosure guidance under Regulation S-K (Reg S-K). One of the foundational updates replaces the requirement for issuers to disclose the “most significant” risk factors with “material” risk factors. That’s a significant shift in the SEC’s principles-based approach to risk factor disclosure that has…
This week the SEC announced charges against Hilton Worldwide Holdings for failing to disclose approximately $1.7 million worth of perquisites related to personal use of the company’s corporate jet and executive hotel stays. The commission says the hotelier “failed to appropriately apply the SEC’s compensation disclosure rules to its system for identifying, tracking and calculating perquisites.” This enforcement action…
As the global environment deteriorates, a growing number of American companies have started to go, or have gone, “green.” There is no single definition of what that means. Some have begun to increase recycling. Others have cut greenhouse gas emissions. Still others plan to become carbon neutral. Among these measures needs to be a commitment…
As the global environment deteriorates, a growing number of American companies have started to go, or have gone, “green.” There is no single definition of what that means. Some have begun to increase recycling. Others have cut greenhouse gas emissions. Still others plan to become carbon neutral. Among these measures needs to be a commitment…
Boards should expect pressure from investors and regulators to disclose more information on workforce health and safety measures in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, experts say. Major investors say the current disclosures aren’t detailed enough, and a large group is pressuring the SEC to ramp up disclosure requirements on the effectiveness of companies’ human capital–related measures. The…