THE PRESS AT COMPANY MEETINGS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 30, 6 February 1939, Page 9

THE PRESS AT COMPANY MEETINGS

A NOVEL SUGGESTION ’I he Press are having an increasingly important part in relation to meet ings of public companies in England it is mentioned in “Accountancy’ (published by the London Associatior of Certified Accountants) that Mi Graham Cunningham, who is describ cd as “one of the most enterprising oi company chairmen,” this year made * oold departure from precedent in in viting the financial press to ask ques tions of the board at his company': annual meeting on equal terms witi shareholders. “From many points o view the experiment was an interest ing one, ’ comments “Accountancy. “It exemplifies, among other things the improvement in the status of th financial Press during the past genera tion. Delving recently into some news paper<files for July, 1914 —a great dea of research into tnat particular perio» has been going on recently—the pres ent writer was reminded that at tha time the Press was still fighting to es tablish the principle of its admittance to meetings. A directory was actuailj compiled of companies which stil held their meetings in private, and Hit public was warned against holdin c their shares. “While there may have been goo< arguments for the exclusion of tn. Press at that time —the standard o icsponsibility and disintcrestednes among financial writers has since riser enormously—the attitude of the Pres was not based upon mere vindictive ness. A company holding its meeting, in private need not necessarily havt anything to conceal, but the Press i infinitely better placed to advise iron an investment angle when it is ad mitted to a company’s meeting. Nor i. this merely a question of the adcii tional information contained in th chairman’s speech. The single hou spent at the meeting often yields . knowledge of the company’s recon and prospects, of the shareholders feelings and interests, above all of th' board’s character and calibre, fa

]greater than can be obtained from th( most painstaking scrutiny of its ac ' counts. In any event, that cause has ■ long been won. Representatives of the financial journals, and of the citj offices of the popular press, now attend the meetings of almost all public ' companies as a matter of course, anc there is little doubt that the inventing public has greatly benefited Iron this co-operation between companies and the Press. “Whether still more useful result; . could be achieved by raising the statu: of the financial journalist from thai of a mere spectator to that of ar active participant in the fray is more open to question. The average shareholder might well feel a certain pettilance at finding his one opportunity ii the year for telling his directors wha‘ he really thinks of them usurped bj some self-appointed guardian of his in ■■ terests. Tfcere might also be a ten dency lor the ordinary investor t< | hang back and leave it to the reputec •specialists to elicit any informatioi | not vouchsafed in the chairman 1 ! • speech—which would be a pity. Othej objections would no doubt presen themselves. On the whole, therefore while appreciating the compliment which Mr. Cunningham has paid their by recognising them as a ‘fourti estate’ in company affairs, financia | journalists would probably be the lasi i to urge other chairmen to follow hi. example.”