Listed companies now better governed Says CEO of Dhaka Stock Exchange

Star Business Report

Listed companies are gradually implementing corporate governance directives set by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), an official said yesterday.

As many as 91 percent of listed companies are following the SEC directives for the size of the boards of directors, independent directors and audit committees, annual general meetings, said Satipati Moitra, chief executive officer of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

The directives are meant to ensure transparency in companies' internal operation.

The DSE has conducted a survey on 104 out of 241 listed companies, where it found that most have complied with the regulations, he said.

In a keynote paper, Moitra said that 88 percent of the surveyed companies have complied with the regulations of the size of board of directors.

The number of directors for a listed company should not be less than five and more than 20.

Most companies follow the regulations on appointing independent directors and audit committees, organising annual general meetings regularly, Moitra said.

He was speaking at a three-day interactive media workshop on corporate governance, which concluded at Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) in Dhaka yesterday.

BEI, Thomson Reuters Foundation, International Finance Corporation and Global Corporate Governance Forum co-organised the workshop.

Moitra admitted that the DSE lacks powers to go for a physical inspection to determine whether all companies are following the SEC directives.

"We need a separate financial report council to ensure transparency in the audit reports of different companies," he said.

"It would be easy for us to ensure good corporate governance practices among local companies, once we have a broad enough legal framework to monitor the performances of these companies," the DSE chief said.

Abul Kalam Azad, information minister, stressed the need for educating business journalists further on covering corporate news.

"The reputation of good corporate governance practices attracts more investments to a country," he said.

"Business journalists can help investors with information at home and abroad to make investment decisions," he added.

He handed over certificates among the workshop participants. Seventeen journalists took part in the programme.

Paul Gallagher, trainer of Thomson Reuters Foundation, moderated the workshop supported by the Dutch embassy.

Farooq Sobhan, president of BEI, and Eugene Spiro, senior project officer of Global Corporate Governance Forum, also spoke.