Corporate Governance and the New York Stock Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has long been a leading proponent for the highest standards of corporate governance and ethical behaviour. Its listing standards have included governance rules for approximately 150 years. It was the NYSE that first required companies to issue regular financial statements, as well as to provide quarterly earnings announcements and conduct independent audits of financial statements, all of which were included as part of the NYSE’s listing standards before any of the federal securities legislation coming out of the Great Depression. The leadership role of the NYSE on governance matters continued during the middle of the 20th century, when the NYSE pioneered such developments as required proxy statement distribution, a minimum number of outside directors, and audit committees made up entirely of independent directors. To learn more about the NYSE and governance, read the Report of the New York Stock Exchange Commission on Corporate Governance (September 23, 2010). The report contains a summary of significant corporate governance developments since 2000 (pages 10-23).

History of the CICA Corporate Reporting Awards

The CICA Corporate Reporting Awards (CRA) began in the early 1950s. Originally, they were based on hardcopy annual reports (from 1951-1992). Today, the awards have expanded beyond the annual reports to include sustainable development awards (introduced in 1993), MD&A (introduced in 1995), corporate governance awards (introduced in 1996), electronic financial reporting (introduced in 2001) and scorecards (introduced in the late 1990s). Now, the major federal crown corporations are also included (introduced in 2007). For a brief history of the Corporate Reporting Awards, refer to the March 2010 research paper “Corporate Reporting Awards and Financial Reporting Quality” by Tim Bauer (tdbauer@uwaterloo.ca) and J. Efrim Boritz (jeboritz@uwaterloo.ca) – pages 6-12 and Appendix B).

A Day of Recognition and Celebration for Quebec Chartered Accountants

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Quebec City CA Group and the 130th anniversary of the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec (OCAQ). A day of activities under the theme "Active capital for your success!" was held in Quebec City on September 30, 2010 to celebrate these two important milestones for Quebec CAs. Read the OCAQ News Release and view the Photo Album online.

Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia - Centenary Website

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia (ICABC) celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005. It was marked with events, articles in Beyond Numbers, Centenary Artwork, an online timeline of the history of CAs in BC, and a calendar. An expanded look at these contributions is provided on the ICABC centenary website which describes the people and events that have shaped the profession in BC.