The recently published survey of the top 200 ASX companies notes that boards will be challenged in many ways to report to shareholders on achieving measurable objectives in relation to gender diversity. Despite the fact that Australian companies will need to report on progress against their gender diversity targets as of January 2011, as per recent changes to the ASX Corporate Governance Council guidelines, many boards have not yet had the discussion on how to set measurable objectives in this area.

Tim Sheehy, CSA's CEO, said that developing gender diversity policies should be a priority for companies. Without the framework of a policy, boards will not be able to set targets "Substantial work needs to be done on undertaking diversity audits to understand the
areas of inequality that exist in companies, and developing a business case that addresses both the diversity challenges and business opportunities. Boards will also need to examine their director recruitment processes, including their selection criteria, to ensure a diverse range of candidates is considered," Mr Sheehy said.

Published every two years since 2002, the survey by CSA provides companies with examples of what is considered excellence in practice in governance and risk management.

"The importance of this survey is that it is a way of providing transparency and accountability, the foundation stones of corporate governance, linking board oversight and informed shareholder ownership. It provides benchmark comparisons for companies and assists them to implement sound governance practices," Mr Sheehy said.

The 2009/10 survey included additional questions reflecting changes in practice and the effects of the James Hardie decision. The survey found that one-third of companies have instituted changes in relation to continuous disclosure and ASX announcements and three-quarters have implemented a process where directors sometimes vet announcements to the ASX prior to their release.

The survey report also confirms earlier research by CSA that shareholders are deserting AGMs in droves, despite AGMs continuing to be the main forum for investors to meet and question directors about a company's performance and their stewardship.

Shareholder attendance at AGMs remained low in 2009, despite keen investor interest in company performance and profits, as the impact of the global financial crisis hit hard. In 2009, only 0.3 per cent of investors in the top 200 with large shareholder bases attended the AGM.

Interestingly, the survey found that there is still no clear consensus in the ASX top 200 companies about how best to structure its board when dealing with risk management. Almost one-third of companies believe that having a stand-alone risk committee is ideal for companies, with another third believing it best to combine risk with audit and the remainder seeing it as the role of the board as a whole.

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