The coronavirus created a swift and sweeping test for public companies of how well they could govern through a dangerous situation that most had not foreseen. With people struggling to stay safe and to keep businesses afloat, shareholders did not, generally speaking, push for bold, new initiatives during the 2020 proxy season. | Read Article |

Over the past decade, investors and other financial statements users have increasingly expressed their concerns over the usefulness of financial statements. There are a variety of concerns expressed with the current IFRS® Standards, including the way that certain financial information is presented, which may not provide the best metrics to support decision making. As well, lack of consistency in using some financial statement captions also contributes to investor confusion. | Read Article |

In preparation for the upcoming proxy season, here are some key developments in corporate governance and disclosure requirements impacting Canadian public issuers. | Read Article |

Since the Canadian market went into lockdown in March 2020, IROs have reacted to changes in how to reach their investors. Over the last year, this column has touched on the use of social media and the changes in corporate access. Other CIRI publications have touched on the move to virtual AGMs, which look set to continue in 2021. | Read Article |

Dual class share structures exist when a company issues different types of shares, each class of which typically has different voting and, possibly, dividend rights. Often, these structures are put in place at family-controlled or founder-controlled firms, so the discussion of family firms and dual class shares goes hand in hand: 89% of dual class firms in the Russell 3000 Index have the founding family as owners. | Read Article |