sábado, 9 de abril de 2011

El problema del “ruido” en la información pública de las empresas

El Financial Reporting Council ha publicado un folleto para llamar la atención sobre un problema conocido de los documentos contables que han de publicar las sociedades: que están llenos de información irrelevante y que buscar información concreta es, a menudo, como buscar una aguja en un pajar, Véase, por ejemplo, el modelo de Informe de Gobierno Corporativo que han de rellenar nuestras sociedades cotizadas. Y es que se reconoce que la culpa no es solo de los que preparan los documentos, sino de los que los regulan y exigen su emisión. Dice el FRC que
We have used the term ‘clutter’ as comprising two problem areas:• immaterial disclosures that inhibit the ability to identify and understand relevant information; and • explanatory information that remains unchanged from year to year.
Immaterial disclosures are remarkably common, for example detailed notes supporting line items that are small – often the case for share-based payments. However, reports also contain explanatory narrative information that is either wholly or largely unchanged from year to year. It is the changes that can often be illuminating but, without comparing the precise text, it is often diffi cult to identify them.
Y en relación con el informe de Gobierno Corporativo
Only ı8 of the 52 provisions of the UK Corporate Governance Code (the Code) require disclosure to demonstrate compliance.For the other 34 provisions, companies are only required to report when they do not comply, and explain why. Despite the ‘comply or explain’ philosophy at the heart of the Code, practice seems to be to explain everything.
Many companies tell us that they are responding to others’ demands. They feel under pressure to report against each provision of the Code because of proxy voting services and other analysts who compile checklist based score sheets to assess governance compliance. Our research has shown that often these additional disclosures take the form of simply repeating the wording of the relevant Code provisions each year. One effect is that they can detract attention from those parts of the governance section that are of most importance to investors, as well as adding to its length. In particular, it makes it much harder for readers to identify the more relevant company-specifi c information about governance issues and practice.

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