Proxy Advisory Firm Survey Results
Nasdaq and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have long supported policies that promote effective shareholder participation in corporate governance. For that reason, Nasdaq, in partnership with the Chamber, conducted their second annual survey of public companies regarding interaction with proxy advisory firms during the 2016 proxy season.
The purpose of the survey is to help stakeholders better understand this interaction and the public company experience, and to highlight changes in that experience over time.
Over 120 companies of all sizes and industries responded, including many Nasdaq-listed companies. Here is what they had to say:
- Approximately 11% fewer companies reported making proactive outreach to proxy advisory firms on issues subject to shareholder votes in 2016. Of the 38% of companies that did request a meeting, that request was more likely to be denied in 2016, with 15% fewer requests resulting in a meeting.
- Roughly the same percentage of companies (13%) took steps to verify the nature of proxy advisory firm conflicts of interest, but in an unwelcome trend, identified conflicts more than doubled from 6% in 2015 to 14% in 2016.
- Exhibiting little change from 2015, only 25% of companies believed the proxy advisory firm carefully researched and took into account all relevant aspects of the particular issue for which it provided advice.
View the complete survey results here >