Second South Eastern Europe Corporate Governance Roundtable

The second meeting of the South Eastern Europe Corporate Governance Roundtable was held at the OECD Centre for Private Sector Development on 30 - 31 May 2002. It was co-hosted by the Centre and the Turkish International Co-operation Agency (TICA). This Roundtable focused on the fourth chapter of the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance endorsed by the OECD council in 1999, namely Transparency and Disclosure.

• Agenda
• Synthesis note
• General Information on the South Eastern Europe Corporate Governance Roundtable

Presentations

Opening Session

• Welcoming remarks, Rainer Geiger, Deputy Director, Directorate for Financial, Fiscal and Enterprise Affairs, OECD
• Opening remarks, Mierta Capaul, Senior Specialist, Private Sector Advisory Services, World Bank

Session 1: Disclosure and transparency: what is at stake?

• The role of transparency in a market economy, Louis Lowenstein, Professor, University of Columbia
• EC perspectives and activities on disclosure and transparency, Erik Van Der Plaats, Administrator, Financial Reporting and Company Law Unit, European Commission
• Improved Transparency and Disclosure: The Forces at work, Aurelian Dochia, Managing Director of BRD / Société Générale Corporate Finance, Romania
• OECD Standard IV. Disclosure and Transparency within the legal system of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Edib Basic, President of the Securities Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Privatization in Serbia- Lack of Institutions, Milko Stimac, CEO of the G17 Institute and Member of the Stock Exchange Commission, FR of Yugoslavia

Session 2: Implementation of international auditing and accounting standards

• International standards implementation programs in SEE, Svetlana Ichizli, SEEPAD Representative
• Conflicts of interests in the accounting and auditing environment, John Rieger, Principal Administrator, Corporate Affairs Division, OECD
  Presentation
  Notes
• A presentation of the Private Sector Accounting and Reform Project- Bosnia-Herzegovina, Senad Pekmez, Senior Accounting Consultant, USAID/IBTCI - Private Sector Accounting Reform Project, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Session 3: Current trends in financial disclosure practices

• Main issues in financial disclosure in SEE, David Trow, Partner, PWC Bucharest
  Presentation
  Notes

Session 4: Non financial disclosure

• The IOSCO Non-Financial Disclosure Standards for Cross Border Listings and Offerings, Robert Strahota, Assistant Director, US SEC
• Enforcement of Disclosure Requirements: The Bulgarian Case, Plamen Tchipev, Professor, Institute of Economics, Bulgaria
• Pension Funds Disclosure, Vladimir Puskaric, Assistant Director, Agency for Supervision of Pension Funds and Insurances, Croatia

Session 5: The role of the board, managers and external auditors

• The role of independent external auditors, John Hegarty, Regional Financial Management Advisor, Europe and Central Asia Region, World Bank
• Presentation of the Prodavka Group, Nevenka Cerovsky, Board Member, Prodavka, Croatia

Session 6: Monitoring and enforcing disclosure

• The respective roles and powers of stock exchanges and securities commissions in enforcing good disclosure, Aril Seren, Vice-Chairman of the Istanbul Stock Exchange
• Enforcing Disclosure Rules at the Bucharest Stock Exchange, Sergio Oprescu, President of the Bucharest Stock Exchange

Concluding session and next steps

• Presentation of the Global Corporate Governance Forum, Marie-Laurence Guy, Project Officer, Global Corporate Governance Forum

Background Papers

• Disclosure of Information and Corporate Governance of Bulgarian Public Companies, Prof. Bistra Boeva - UNWES and Dr. Maria Prohaska - Senior Researcher, Centre for Economic Development
• Enforcement of Disclosure Requirements: The Bulgarian Case, Dr Plamen Tchipev, Senior Researcher, Institute of Economics - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
• Transparency and Disclosure in Croatia - A Brief Review, Dr. Edita Culinovic Herc and Andrej Galogaza, Legal Affairs, The Zagreb Stock Exchange