Christoph Van der Elst

Corporate governance, jaarverslag en transparantie: een moeilijke driehoeksverhouding

WP 2006-16

Corporate governance and disclosure remain issues on the agenda of boards, regulators and legislators. Corporate reporting shifted from the disclosure of financial results towards informing the stakeholders about a wide variety of topics, including corporate governance. Whereas for financial reporting a detailed framework was developed, the other reporting requirements were more or less introduced by "accident" or on an ad hoc basis. This article discusses the Belgian and European developments of reporting on corporate governance issues in the annual report. Next, it shows that over a period of less than ten years, companies allow stakeholders to familiarize with and get to know their structures, strategies and business ethics. This study concludes that the time has come for consolidation of the governance reporting framework in order to help companies in their search of optimal compliance.