LONDON (Standard & Poor's) May 3, 2007--Transparency and disclosure practices
at leading Turkish companies have improved only marginally since 2006,
according to a report published today by Standard & Poor's Governance
Services.
The report, titled "Turkish Transparency And Disclosure Survey 2007: Pace
Of Improvement Has Slowed," summarizes the third phase of a three-year survey.
Standard & Poor's and the Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey at Sabanci
University have been monitoring and assessing corporate response to regulation
and market circumstances, with the objective of providing a comparative
insight into the disclosure practices of Turkish companies over three
successive years. The survey leverages Standard & Poor's expertise in
corporate governance, index construction, and analysis of accounting
information. It is designed to help international investors better understand
the differences in the level of reporting between Turkish companies.
"Companies in the sample are finding it challenging to maintain the
momentum of improvement observed in 2006," said Standard & Poor's governance
analyst Amra Balic.
Although regulatory changes put in place since 2003 have had a positive
impact on overall disclosure, disclosure that goes beyond regulatory and legal
requirements has not continued to develop at the same pace. Many disclosure
practices seem to converge around the requirements of IFRS.
"Findings from the 2007 survey reveal that disclosure levels remain
strongest with respect to financial transparency," Ms. Balic added.
In addition, overall disclosure of board-related information has
increased. Nevertheless, there has been no improvement in the transparency of
executive and director compensation.
The majority of companies (44) included in the survey were constituents
of the S&P/IFC Global Index as of October 2004. The remainder comprises
companies from the top 60 listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange, selected
according to market capitalization and liquidity.
The report is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, the real-time
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