European Corporate Disclosure Falls Short Of US Standards, Claims Report

Disclosure of corporate governance-related information in Europe compares favourably with Asia, but less so with North America, according to a new Standard & Poor’s report. In the European section of its global transparency and disclosure study, the ratings agency noted that disclosure of governance-related information in the UK, France and the Netherlands is among the highest globally; and within Europe, disclosure standards are lowest in Italy and Spain. It also claimed that European companies provide consistently high levels of financial information, but are weaker in disclosing ownership information and investor rights in annual reports. Furthermore, the varying practices in individual countries suggest that governance-related disclosure is not constrained by local regulatory filing requirements, according to the firm.

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