Tougher accounting rule affects stockholders’ meeting skeds

The policy of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) toward stricter accounting standards has impacted on the schedules of annual stockholders' meetings among listed companies.

Based on separate disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, most of the firms cited their inability to furnish the audited financial statements in time for their yearly shareholders meetings, which have traditionally been scheduled on specific dates.

Among those which have reset their stockholders' meeting at a later date are: Diversified Financial Network Inc., Leisure & Resorts World Corp., Wise Holdings Inc., EEI Corp., Cosmos Bottling Corp., South China Resources, Inc., iPeople Inc., Steniel Manufacturing Corp., San Miguel Properties Inc., Metro Alliance Holdings & Equities Corp., Mondragon International Philippines Inc., Prudential Bank, and SQL*Wizard.

The SEC has adopted a stricter policy in the presentation of financial statements, particularly in the full disclosure of a company’s cash transactions and the status of its loan obligations.

Such policies are being made not only to conform with global accounting standards, but also as an early mechanism to minimize risks, specially among its investors.

The recent case involving Enron Corp. in the US has highlighted such a need, specially since the scandal has been traced to the company’s external auditors.