The Board’s Role in Succession Planning

One of the most challenging aspects of the recent financial crisis has been the significant increase in the number of CEOs who have left their companies unexpectedly or on short notice. Despite this trend and the widespread view that succession planning is a critical board function, directors of many public companies are not fully satisfied with the effectiveness of their succession planning.

Against this background, the Lead Director Network, a group of lead directors, presiding directors and non-executive chairmen from many of America’s leading companies, met recently to discuss the board’s role in succession planning. Following this meeting, King & Spalding and Tapestry Networks have published the ViewPoints report here to present highlights of the discussion that occurred at the meeting and to stimulate further consideration of this subject.

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23rd National Conference on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

ACI’s National Conference on the FOREIGN CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT is the event that corporate counsel, compliance officers, outside counsel and accountants rely on for comprehensive, insightful, and practical guidance on critical FCPA compliance issues.

Benefit from the practical perspective of seasoned corporate FCPA compliance executives, get an update on enforcement and policy initiatives from top Government officials and FCPA attorneys, and learn how industry is setting up internal controls to comply in this constantly changing global legal landscape. This year’s agenda includes the latest information on:

* Changes you need to make to your compliance program as a result of recent cases against companies and individuals
* How government agencies evaluate voluntary disclosures
* Deciding whether you've investigated "enough": how much is enough in trying to learn the facts?
* Risks and concerns when a joint-venture partner is a governmental entity
* What your system of fraud risk internal controls needs to accomplish
* Assessing the risks faced by particular companies based on geographic scope, business model, business sector and other factors
* Communicating with government authorities: balancing cooperation with maintaining an effective defense

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NAPF revises corporate governance policy

Minor changes ahead of AGM season

The NAPF has announced a set of changes to its corporate governance policy to reflect developments in regulation and market practice during 2009.

The NAPF publishes a policy document to enable schemes to assess the companies in which they own shares. The new document has been published ahead of the 2010 Annual General Meeting season.

See full Article.

Europe's premier wind energy event goes to Poland

Journalists are invited to the annual European Wind Energy Conference & Exhibition (EWEC 2010), Warsaw, 20-23 April.

Organised by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), EWEC 2010 - Europe's largest combined wind energy conference and exhibition - brings together business leaders, policy makers and stakeholders from all over Europe to debate key developments in the wind industry.

The issue set to spark lively debate at EWEC is: can wind power generate half of Europe's electricity by 2050? Climate policies - including financial and regulatory incentives, moving offshore wind to the industrial stage, the development of global markets for wind energy, rotor aerodynamics, wind resource assessment, are among the issues on the agenda at the EWEC 2010 conference.

See full Details.

Offshore wind power: The big blow

EUROPEAN offshore wind generation is expected to grow spectacularly over the next decade, with Britain and Germany contributing the lion's share of new capacity. According to the European Wind Energy Association around 200 turbines were installed and attached to electricity grids in European waters in 2009, with almost half of the capacity under construction in British waters.

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Restoring Trust in Corporate Governance

Boards of directors and business leadersmust undertake six essential tasks argues, Ben W. Heineman Jr.

The business community faces a crisis in confidence both in its own ranks and in broader society. Many are asking: How can corporations govern themselves more effectively—and truly be held accountable?

One answer is increased public regulation. The origins of the Great Recession include bad business decision-making caused in no small part by excessive and poorly structured corporate compensation. Not surprisingly, there are now energetic public policy debates about the governance both of the financial sector (with a variety of measures being considered to ensure safety and soundness) and of all publicly held corporations (with focus on an enhanced shareholder role and mandated compensation and risk processes).

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UK Corporate Governance Code: Changes due

"The emphasis of the new code is on encouraging changes in the behaviour of boards."

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has recently published its Final Report following its review of the Combined Code (the current code), which started in March this year.

The review was originally intended to take place in 2010, but was brought forward following the economic crisis and in light of the review by Sir David Walker of corporate governance in UK banks and other financial industry entities.

See full Article.

FRC consults on Stewardship Code for Institutional Investors

FRC PN 292

The FRC has today begun consultation on the content, operation and oversight of a stewardship code that will set out good practice for institutional investors when engaging with the UK listed companies in which they invest.

The FRC agreed to take on responsibility of oversight of the proposed code at the request of the Government, following Sir David Walker’s report on the corporate governance of banks and other financial institutions in November 2009.

Announcing the consultation Sir Christopher Hogg, Chairman of the FRC, said:

See full Press Release.

What is the Corruption Perceptions Index?

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) measures the perceived level of public-sector corruption in 180 countries and territories around the world. The CPI is a "survey of surveys", based on 13 different expert and business surveys.

* CPI 2009 results
* Press release: Corruption threatens global economic recovery, greatly challenges countries in conflict [English] [French] [Spanish]
* Multimedia: videos, podcasts, and an interactive infographic
* Social media: join the discussion

See full Press Release

Climate Change's Latest Storm

It's been a good week for the future of Life as We Know It. First the keepers of the climate-science consensus admitted that the Himalayan glaciers are not on the verge of disappearing, as these columns pointed out last month. Now we've learned that there wasn't much science behind the claim, also trumpeted in the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 report, that rising temperatures were leading to more-intense storms and more-expensive natural catastrophes.

This is good news for everyone, except perhaps the IPCC itself.

The IPCC's latest headache involves the section on global warming and natural disasters in its 2007 report. There, it cites "Muir-Wood et al., 2006" as claiming that "a small statistically significant trend was found for an increase in annual catastrophe loss since 1970 of 2% per year."

See full Article.

Women Attack Commission.....

In Brussels earlier this week, the Women's Rights Committee launched a scathing attack on the Commission over its gender policies, when it was asked to approve the discharge of the EU General Budget for 2008.

Brussels earlier this week, the Women's Rights Committee launched a scathing attack on the Commission over its gender policies, when it was asked to approve the discharge of the EU General Budget for 2008.

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EWEA policy workshop, 9 February 2010, Ankara, Turkey

When: Tuesday, 9 February 2010, 10:00 - 15:35, followed by a reception
Where: Bilkent Hotel and Conference Centre. Üniversiteler Mah. 1599.Cad. No:6, Ankara 06800, Turkey

Organised by EWEA in association with the Turkish Wind Energy Association (TWEA/TÜREB)

Sessions will cover issues including:

* wind development in Europe and Turkey;
* Turkey’s wind energy development plans;
* evaluating wind power projects in Turkey;
* encouraging wind energy development in Turkey – a manufacturer’s perspective;
* integrating wind energy into the grid;
* wind power projects - lastest progress.

See full Press Release.

Governance regulations welcomed by finance and accounting firms

The joint publication by the ICAEW and Financial Reporting Council of a code of governance for listed company auditor has been received with a flurry of supportive statements from the firms concerned.

The new Audit Firm Governance Code will apply to accounting firms that audit more than 20 companies listed on the main London Stock Exchange. At the moment, this means eight firms: Baker Tilly; BDO; Deloitte; Ernst & Young; Grant Thornton; KPMG; PKF; and PwC.

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Can bribes paid by private firms cause “social damage”? : space for transparency

Yes! It is possible that firm pays for the damages caused to a society at large when caught bribing governmental officials – even Presidents! This is the case now in Costa Rica where Alcatel-Lucent, the French-American communications company, agreed to pay US $10 million to the Costa Rican State as a compensation for the “social damage” provoked to the Costa Rican society after a scandal that involved US $2.5 million in bribes to ensure a cell-phones contract under President Miguel Angel Rodriguez term (1998-2002).

The concept of “social damage” implies that a financial retribution should be made by those found guilty of a corruption crime to repair the damage caused to a society. It is a quite innovative concept introduced in 1998 in Costa Rica – unique in Latin America - that has been used by the Office of the Public Ethics Prosecutor in their investigations against two former Costa Rican Presidents and European firms, including Rodríguez and Alcatel-Lucent, involved in major corruption cases.

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Climate change research sound, chief UK scientist says

The government's chief scientist says his confidence in climate science remains unshaken despite allegations about the withholding of research data.

Professor John Beddington told the BBC the fundamental science behind man-made global warming was "correct".

He said he was concerned that the debate on climate change was becoming artificially polarised.

See full Article.

Forest Governance Integrity

Six nations pledged $3.5 billion during the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December 2009 to kick start the UN’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, or REDD, programme to compensate developing nations for not cutting down trees. It was perhaps the one spot of good news out of Copenhagen. And though the funds fall short of the estimated $25 billion that will be required to protect the world’s green lungs from now until 2015, it is still a great deal of money to absorb into an industry not known for good governance.

According to the World Bank illegal logging costs the world economy at least US$10 billion annually with up to 80 percent of timber harvested in countries like Cambodia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia coming from illegal sources. Many countries have legislation in place to protect forest reserves and prevent illegal logging, but corruption ensures that it continues.

See full Press Release.

Wong keeps greenhouse emissions reduction target at 5pc

AUSTRALIA will not increase its emissions reduction target above five per cent until the world acts on climate change.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong today announced the government would formally submit its existing 2020 target range for reducing emissions to the Copenhagen Accord.

Senator Wong said the decision to maintain the target range was consistent with the approach expected by other nations.

“Targets are only worthwhile if they are backed by a credible plan to meet them,” Senator Wong said.

See full Wong keeps greenhouse emissions reduction target at 5pc | The Australian

What is a Leadership Derailer?

A leadership derailer is a behavior that gets in the way of our progress. A derailer is not just a weakness. We all have many weaknesses that we may never choose to improve or need to master. A derailer is a weakness that requires improvement if we are to realize our potential.

See full Article.

European offshore wind power market grew 54% in 2009

In 2009, a total of eight new wind farms consisting of 199 offshore wind turbines, with a combined power generating capacity of 577 MW, were connected to the grid in Europe. This represents a growth rate of 54% compared to the 373 MW installed during 2008. For 2010, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) expects the completion of 10 additional European offshore wind farms, adding 1,000 MW and equivalent to market growth of 75% compared to 2009.

“This is an incredibly good result considering the continued difficulties of obtaining project finance for large projects”, said Christian Kjaer, EWEA Chief Executive. “Independent project developers, in particular, are still struggling. For the offshore wind power industry to continue its development, it is vital that governments and the European Commission provide policy frameworks that stimulate investor interest and allow project developers to move their plans forward,” said Kjaer.

Currently, 17 offshore wind farms are under construction in Europe, totaling more than 3,500 MW, with just under half being constructed in UK waters. In addition, a further 52 offshore wind farms have won full consent in European waters, totaling more than 16,000 MW, with just over half of this capacity planned in Germany.

See full Press Release.

India's Shaky Governance

It's easy to ignore corporate-governance hounds when the going is good.

Consider India. Foreign buyers are pushing stock prices toward all-time highs, drawing a new wave of Indian companies to the public markets. Some 50 applications for new listings on India's stock markets— worth about $6.3 billion—are pending, says Firstcall India Equity Advisors.

Flash back a year and markets were reeling from a huge fraud at Satyam Computer Services as investors re-evaluated India on the basis of governance ...

See full Article.

Por obesidad, pérdida de productividad

La obesidad y el sobrepeso en México representan pérdidas de productividad de 23,000 millones de pesos y de 40,000 millones de pesos anuales en el Sector Salud, por lo que, de seguir así, el sistema se verá rebasado por los costos que significa, advirtió el presidente Felipe Calderón.

De ahí que en Los Pinos se firmó ayer el Acuerdo Nacional para la Salud Alimentaria, con el cual se pretende reducir que 70% de los adultos y tres de cada 10 niños padezcan sobrepeso u obesidad.

En nombre del sector productivo, Armando Paredes, presidente del Consejo Coordinador Empresarial, aseguró que se comprometen a explorar procesos de innovación de nuevos productos y reformulación de líneas para ofrecer mejores opciones a los consumidores.

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Afghanistan: Setting a solid anti-corruption roadmap

An Open Letter from Transparency International to the Participants of the London Conference on Afghanistan on 28 January 2010

An Open Letter from Transparency International to the Participants of the London Conference on Afghanistan on 28 January 2010

To: The Rt. Honourable Prime Minister Brown, Hon. President Karzai, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and distinguished participants of the London Conference

Dear Honourable Leaders,

Widespread corruption in Afghanistan continues to seriously undermine state-building and threatens to destroy the trust of the Afghan people in their government and their institutions while fuelling insecurity. As the international community emphasises the need to counter corruption, the Afghan people agree: their worry about the devastating effects of corruption rivals concerns about security and employment. Corruption impacts their daily lives, especially the poorest.

See full Press Release.

Governance Problems in Closely-Held Corporations

The notion of balance of power, as any schoolchild or immigration test-taker knows, was central to our Founding Fathers’ conception of effective governance. Their deep insight on human behavior not only shaped our political institutions, but also cleanly translated to the design of modern corporations. As Berle and Means have noted, owners of a corporation that separates ownership from control have to remain ever-vigilant about expropriation by the controlling party. One way to achieve balance of power is to share ownership across individuals, so that no individual can unilaterally expropriate. However, the benefits of shared ownership are difficult to assess in public firms for two reasons. First, the large number of owners implies that each owner free rides with respect to the monitoring efforts of other owners (the individual owner may also not have the relevant expertise). Second, the liquid market of a company’s shares enables ownership structures to evolve endogenously. In equilibrium, the ownership structure of firms depends on their specific conditions and, as a result, it is difficult for an outsider to disentangle the effect of ownership structure from the effect of other firm characteristics.

See full Article.

Law firm unveils plan to retain top women

Allen & Overy will allow its partners to work part-time, to encourage more women to stick around.

It’s fair to say that the round-the-clock demands of working as a partner in a top legal firm aren’t brilliantly suited to family life – which is partly why so many women decide against it. But this could be about to change, at least at Allen & Overy: the City’s fourth largest law firm is proposing to allow leading partners to work more flexibly, the idea being to stop women walking away from top jobs in the legal profession. This is certainly a step in the right direction, and it would be nice if other law firms followed suit. But will it actually work in practice? (no pun intended)

Of course, flexible working is nothing new, even in the rather old-fashioned legal world. Like most law firms, Allen & Overy already gives junior lawyers and support staff the option to work flexibly – but partners were regarded as too important not to be in the office full-time.

See full Article.

Managing Corporate Risk

For years, corporate directors have been asked to raise the bar on risk oversight. Once considered the territory of internal auditors or general counsel, setting policies on the oversight of risk for the entire enterprise is now widely accepted as the purview and responsibility of the full board. If there is one lesson learned in recent years, it is that unknown or underestimated risks can bring a company to its knees.

The current economic situation and the scrutiny on board responsibility has brought risk analysis into razor-sharp focus. Directors, in fact, say the number one thing that keeps them up at night are “unknown risks” (Figure 7), and aside from profitability and shareholder value, they point to risk management as the primary area to which they should pay the most attention (Figure 8).

See full Article.

CEO Cash Compensation Punished for Poor Firm Performance? by Kenneth Shaw, May Zhang

Abstract:
Leone et al. (2006) conclude that CEO cash compensation is more sensitive to negative stock returns than to positive stock returns, due to Boards of Directors enforcing an ex post settling up on CEOs. Dechow (2006) conjectures that Leone et al.’s (2006) results might be due to the sign of stock returns misclassifying firm performance. Using three-way performance partitions, we find no asymmetry in CEO cash compensation for firms with low stock returns. Further, we find that CEO cash compensation is less sensitive to poor earnings performance than it is to better earnings performance. Thus, we find no evidence consistent with ex post settling up for poor firm performance, even among the very worst performing firms with strong corporate governance. We find similar results when examining changes in CEO bonus pay and when partitioning firm performance using earnings-based measures. In sum, our results suggest that CEO cash compensation is not punished for poor firm performance.

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Maintaining Board Confidentiality

The increasing success of shareholder activists in designating or electing directors is altering the composition of public company boards. It is also posing challenges to long-held assumptions about the sanctity of board deliberations and the nature of a director’s confidentiality obligations to fellow directors and the company.

The almost certain advent of proxy access will exacerbate these issues because it will inevitably increase the number of shareholder-nominated directors in the board room.

Notwithstanding the theoretical implications of the legal principle that a director, no matter how nominated or by whom, owes fiduciary duties to all shareholders, as a practical matter shareholder-nominated directors are often viewed, and in fact act, as representatives of their shareholder sponsors—what some call “special interest” or “constituency” directors.

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What Directors Think: 2009 Research Results

View the results of the Corporate Board Member/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Annual What Directors Think Research Study.

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ICC worried over Kenya post-election riots witnesses

International prosecutors have written to the Kenyan government over concerns that witnesses to deadly riots in 2007 and 2008 have been intimidated.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) asked the Kenya authorities to make sure witnesses were properly protected.

The ICC has promised to prosecute suspected organisers of the violence, which swept the country for weeks after the 2007 election, killing hundreds.

See full Article.

2010 Current Developments for Directors

from PricewaterhouseCoopers

Since it’s unlikely 2010 will be a year of aggressive growth and expansion for most companies, how will your company approach a moderately-paced recovery? Is this an opportunity to
make strategic acquisitions (of businesses or people), or is this the time to realign your company so that it is better positioned for possible future bumps in the road? Will lenders or investors be there to provide the capital you need to fulfi ll your plans? How will the regulatory and legislative landscape look during 2010, and what does that mean for your company’s operations?

While there are many questions, there are three things we know. First, the past year has been tough on businesses and employees around the world. Second, the economic crisis, coupled with a new administration, has brought about an agenda of regulation and reform in Washington, with implications for all of us.

See Article.

Nigeria gets independent procurement monitoring portal to check corruption

The World Bank and the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) have called on civil society organisations operating in Nigeria to evolve a more coordinated and harmonised approach to monitoring the procurement system, to become key stakeholders in budget tracking.

The change came yesterday as the country got its first independent procurement monitoring system.

The procurement observatory portal is a national procurement watch platform aimed at achieving fair, transparent, competitive public procurement process that delivers value for money and supports improved livelihoods for the people of Nigeria.

See full Article.

Ten To-Do' s for Audit Committees in 2010

from KPMG's Audit Committee Institute

When considering and carrying out their 2010 agendas, audit committees should...

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A New, Practical Approach to Board Oversight of Risk

“Oversight” is generally defined both as “watchful and responsible care” and as “an inadvertent omission or error.” Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the boards of directors of public companies today is how to exercise its now mandatory risk oversight function through watchful and responsible care, without inadvertent omissions or errors.

We know how we got here—the freezing of the credit markets, the near total collapse of the financial markets, the great recession, and the attendant need to place blame. While many would argue that the directors of certain financial institutions may have dozed, or even fallen asleep at the wheel, few people outside of congress would argue that requiring boards to disclose how they discharge their risk oversight function will lead to real progress. The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rule revisions of July 2009 include a new disclosure on the board’s role in the risk management process.

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How do we keep women after maternity leave?

'Many women in our company are choosing not to return to work after maternity leave, possibly because our line managers aren’t tactful in the way they treat them before, during and after maternity leave. How can I broach this?'

The problem
I work in HR at a financial services company, which boasts some very senior women who are crucial to the business and bring diversity to an otherwise male, middle-class board in a male-dominated industry. But many are choosing not to return to work after maternity leave or leave shortly afterwards. I think this is because our line managers aren’t tactful in the way they treat women before, during and after maternity leave.

See full Article.

And your definition of board diversity is…

One of the areas of focus that was part of the SEC’s recently expanded Governance and Executive Compensation Disclosure Rules that go into effect on February 28, 2010 (http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/2009/33-9089.pdf) was the requirement for companies to disclose whether, and how, the nominating and governance committee considers diversity in its board composition. I must admit that while I wasn’t surprised that there was some kind of disclosure related to board composition, I think what we will see in this year’s proxies will be very interesting.

First let me lay some groundwork that the issue of board diversity is not new to us. Last May, Corporate Board Member hosted a Boardroom Diversity Symposium designed to educate diverse (gender and ethnicity) board candidates about what it takes to serve as a corporate director from the perspective of existing board members. In addition, we invited U.S. publicly held companies’ nominating and governance committee chairs to come and network with these diverse candidates in the hope that those who felt there was a shortage of qualified minority or women directors could be able to network among this talent pool. We ended up with an audience of approximately 130 attendees—the majority of whom were candidates and existing diverse board members.

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Take Five: Corporate Corruption, A Worldwide View

What do you get when you combine the acronyms FCPA, SEC, UK and US? Answer: trouble for public companies in both countries. Lawmakers are cracking down on corporate corruption and as Asheesh Goel, partner, Ropes & Gray, explains, the legal landscape is changing rapidly and prosecutors around the world are ready to make an example out of your company.

Corporate Board Member: Statistically, is corporate corruption on the rise or the decline?
Asheesh Goel: I'm not aware of any study on whether corporate corruption is increasing. However, one thing is clear: the investigation and prosecution of corporate corruption has increased in a statistically significant amount. Really for the past 5 years, the US government, through the Department of Justice and the Securities & Exchange Commission, has made a substantial commitment of time and resources to this key area of white collar crime. Anecdotally, I would expect that corruption in general increases during economic recessions as unscrupulous individuals seek an unfair advantage.

CBM: What impact has the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act had on US companies?
AG: There are competing views on this. Many companies have felt that they are at a competitive disadvantage because the playing field is not level, tilting in favor of those who are not subjected to US laws.

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Green fades in the wash

IT WAS consumer group Choice that first suspected GreenPower provider GreenSwitch was still selling renewable energy to eco-conscious customers in late 2008, weeks after it had been deregistered.

GreenSwitch, owned by a company called Global Green Plan, had been banned in September 2008 after taking money from customers to buy GreenPower certificates, but failing to buy all the certificates promised.

Sure enough, Choice was able to buy renewable energy from GreenSwitch in November, and says that, at the time, GreenSwitch's website was still spruiking ''100% accredited GreenPower''.

See full Article.

Obama Banking Plan Renews International Regulation Push

International efforts to regulate financial institutions gained renewed momentum Friday in the wake of the Obama administration's proposals to curb the size and spread of the biggest U.S. banks, leading regulators said Friday.

The U.S. moves, announced Thursday, are likely to make financial regulation one of the top items on the agenda at next week's gathering of world political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland. The news hit bank stocks around the world Friday as investors concluded banks would face tougher government actions.

Until now, many investors had expected Washington to resist tough action on banks. Instead, the administration of President Barack Obama, responding to popular pressure, appeared to move into a leadership role with its proposals, jumpstarting a debate on global financial regulation that had begun to falter.

See full Article.

Ethics and values are vital to financial rethink, report says

The economic crisis is also a crisis of ethics and values and must lead to a “rethink” of the moral framework around finance, according to a report to be released in Davos.

Most of more than 130,000 Facebook users in ten countries polled by Georgetown University in the US, believe that companies should be as responsible to employees and clients as to their shareholders. Klaus Schwab, the founder of the forum, said that religion and faith communities were vital to an essential debate on reform of the “architecture” of international finance.

The forum has responded to the crisis by expanding its dialogue with faith communities beyond its focus on Islam and the West to look at education, health, climate change and business ethics. In a series of essays by religious leaders for the report,

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The Global Gender Gap Report 2009

Iceland (1) has claimed the top spot of the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2009 from Norway (3) which slipped to third position behind Finland (2). Sweden (4) completed the Nordic countries’ continued dominance of the top four. The report’s Index assesses countries on how well they are dividing their resources and opportunities among their male and female populations, regardless of the overall levels of these resources and opportunities. South Africa and Lesotho made great strides in closing their gender gaps to enter the top 10, at sixth and 10th position respectively. The Philippines (9) lost ground for the first time in four years but remains the leading Asian country in the rankings.

Out of the 115 countries covered in the report since 2006, more than two-thirds have posted gains in overall index scores, indicating that the world in general has made progress towards equality between men and women, although there are countries that continue to lose ground.

See full Details.

Tweets (And More) Of The Week: Board Gender Quotas

Some readers say a law feminizing corporate boards is the best path to equality; others oppose quotas as a matter of pride.

This week France's National Assembly passed a bill that would force the nation’s largest companies to devote at least 40% of board positions to women. By most accounts, the bill is likely to be signed into law later this year. This seems like a propitious moment for femmes d'affaires, with France on the verge of being the largest country thus far to impose quotas to break the boardroom boys' club--Norway and Spain also have quotas.

But are government-mandated quotas the right idea? Is it Big Daddy economic interventionism or an effective way to impose gender parity? We brought these questions to the ForbesWoman community on LinkedIn.

See full Article.

Rudd's productivity growth targets need investment in research and development

AUSTRALIA has stunning jobs growth coupled with moderate output growth, which gives you low productivity growth.

Tony Abbott has made up ground on Kevin Rudd in the national popularity stakes.

The Rudd government is apparently using a Treasury report on the budget challenges over the next 40 years “to develop an election pitch based on returning productivity growth to the rapid rates achieved in the 1990s”.

We pass over Treasury's abysmal forecasting record, including a peak unemployment rate of 8.5 per cent, designed doubtless to scare the Labor government into some good old-fashioned Keynesian spending.

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UN climate change expert: there could be more errors in report

The Indian head of the UN climate change panel defended his position yesterday even as further errors were identified in the panel's assessment of Himalayan glaciers.

Dr Rajendra Pachauri dismissed calls for him to resign over the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change’s retraction of a prediction that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035.

But he admitted that there may have been other errors in the same section of the report, and said that he was considering whether to take action against those responsible.

See full Article.

Colleges' gender gap

Women now outnumber men in both applying to schools and earning degrees.

Who's smarter, men or women? It's a topic of common -- and often comic -- musings, but it has also become a serious policy issue for colleges and this nation's students.

After 17 years of concentrated effort to raise the academic achievement of girls, who in previous decades had often received less attention in the classroom and been steered away from college-prep courses, the nation can brag that female students have progressed tremendously. Though still underrepresented in calculus and other advanced-level science and math courses in high school, women now outnumber men applying to and graduating from college -- so much so that it appears some colleges are giving male applicants an admissions boost. As a result, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is examining whether colleges are engaging in widespread discrimination against women in an effort to balance their male and female populations.

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Ensuring a sustainable recovery in the world economy - Peter Sands

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Environment - World Bank Group's Environment Strategy 2010

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Más mujeres tienen mejor salario que sus maridos

La proporción de matrimonios en los cuales la esposa tiene una remuneración más alta que su marido ha subido en EEUU del 4 al 22 por ciento en las últimas cuatro décadas, según un informe difundido hoy por el Centro Pew.

"La institución del matrimonio ha tenido cambios significativos en las últimas décadas durante las cuales las mujeres han superado a los hombres en el aumento de la educación y los salarios", señala el informe del centro de estudios independiente.

En 1970 el 52 por ciento de los hombres y mujeres casados tenían, aproximadamente el mismo nivel de educación, en tanto que el 28 por ciento de los hombres tenía una educación mas avanzada comparado con el 20 por ciento de las mujeres.

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World Economic Forum - Annual Meeting 2010

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010 programme will focus on six areas:

• How to Create a Values Framework
• How to Strengthen Economic and Social Welfare
• How to Mitigate Global Risks and Address Systemic Failures
• How to Ensure Sustainability
• How to Enhance Security
• How to Build Effective Institutions

See full Press Release.

EBS Colleges' gender gap

Women now outnumber men in both applying to schools and earning degrees.

Who's smarter, men or women? It's a topic of common -- and often comic -- musings, but it has also become a serious policy issue for colleges and this nation's students.

After 17 years of concentrated effort to raise the academic achievement of girls, who in previous decades had often received less attention in the classroom and been steered away from college-prep courses, the nation can brag that female students have progressed tremendously. Though still underrepresented in calculus and other advanced-level science and math courses in high school, women now outnumber men applying to and graduating from college -- so much so that it appears some colleges are giving male applicants an admissions boost. As a result, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is examining whether colleges are engaging in widespread discrimination against women in an effort to balance their male and female populations.

See full Article.

Let Senate probe shareholder rights ruling: Brown

The Greens are demanding a Senate inquiry into the Federal Government's plan to effectively overturn a High Court decision that boosted shareholder rights in corporate collapses.

The Government says it wants to amend the Corporations Act to reflect a long-standing convention that creditors are ranked higher than shareholders.

But Greens Leader Bob Brown is resisting the move, saying shareholders should not have a second-class role.

"It does sound like the Government's taking the case of business directors against the average Australian shareholder, and that's perilous ground," he said.

See full Article.

A slap in the face for shareholders as High Court judgment is reversed

THERE'S something fairly scary about watching a junior government minister reverse a High Court judgment, but in fact Chris Bowen is only doing what the High Court said the government could always do and tweaking legislation to rank secondary market purchasers of shares on the same level as original prospectus investors.

What he wants to do, and some shareholders' rights have taken a bit of a dive in the process, is to keep investment funds coming into Australian companies by trying to head off a reportedly growing mass of potential class actions pursued by litigation funders by ranking their claims one step lower than previously down the chain of priorities that company liquidators have to deal with.

As one expert put it yesterday, it's a slap in the face for shareholders because they can't now be found to rank above other shareholders even if they have been misled.

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