Note that there are two scores reported for the U.S.
companies,onebasedonjusttheannualreport(whichisnot
veryinformativeonacompositebasis)andonebasedonall
financial filings with the SEC (which is much more
informative).Onacompositescorebasis,theU.K.andU.S.
companies scored highest and Latin American companies
scored lowest.
In2002,S&Palsoprovidedindividualrankingsforthefirms
intheS&P 500 oneachofthedimensions,andconcludedthat
whilefirmsdidagoodjobofdisclosingfinancialinformation,
they fell short in providing information on ownership
structure, investor rights, and board and management
structure. The six items that S&P highlighted as lacking were:
1.Anydiscussionof,orreferenceto,acorporategovernance
charter or code of best practices.
2.Thetextofacorporategovernancecharterorcodeofbest
practices.
3.A listing of the companies’ top three shareholders.