Annual General Meetings : A Waste of Time or Effective Corporate Governance Bodies?

This study of annual general meetings (AGMs) is based on an empirical analysis of the meetings held by eleven Colombian firms listed in the local market accounting for just over 50 percent of the COLCAP (an index of the most relevant companies in the market). Referencing the AGM scorecard developed by Apostolides (2007) and the guidelines of Colombia's corporate governance code, we build assessment indexes for the sample firms. The results suggest that Colombian AGMs give the highest relevance to refreshments and materials ignore fundamental aspects as voting procedure, composition and remuneration of the board, early revelation of information regarding candidates for board positions and the use of electronic media to transmit the AGMs and to offer voting possibilities via the firms' web sites. On the basis of these findings, we provide recommendations to be implemented in any institutional context that seeks to improve corporate governance practices at AGMs