沃尔玛和摩根大通忽视股东酿大祸
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没有哪个苦力员工希望考评的时候，老板耳中会听到关于他表现不佳的消息。虽然考评应当如实体现一年的努力工作，但总有些时候，老板会问“你最近又给我惹什么祸了”这样的问题，而这却可能影响最后的考评结果和你的薪水。 眼下正值许多公司举办年度股东大会的时候，许多企业的董事会和CEO也有着同样的担忧。因为去年对不少大型企业来说并非一个幸运之年。 今年3月，美联储因对花旗集团（Citi）的财务状况缺乏信心，而驳回了花旗提高分红比例的请求。这个消息爆出时，恰逢花旗集团即将召开股东年度大会，结果股东们在会上投票否决了花旗的高管薪酬方案。上周摩根大通（J.P. Morgan）又在股东大会前爆出因交易失误导致公司巨亏20亿美元的消息，对此案的调查短期内还没有结束的苗头。沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）也将在6月1日召开年度股东大会，《纽约时报》（New York Times）近日却又爆出了沃尔玛集团因涉嫌行贿正在接受调查的消息。 纽约的养老基金CalSTRS近日代表沃尔玛及其股东状告沃尔玛的高管和董事，控诉他们操纵行贿丑闻以及对此案的调查。股东把高管告上法庭，这还是沃尔玛历史上开天辟地头一遭。沃尔玛的一位发言人在电子邮件中对我说道：“我们非常严肃地看待对股东的责任。我们正在密切关注这起诉讼，同时彻查所发生的问题。”另外在沃尔玛的股东大会召开前，CalSTRS基金已明确表示将在换届投票中对沃尔玛的五名董事投反对票。 沃尔玛对警告视而不见 沃尔玛行贿大案在爆发之前并非没有一点苗头。事实上据一份最新解密的文件披露，沃尔玛董事会早在7年前就收到了监管机构的警告。2005年5月25日，纽约市审计官威廉•汤普森在一封信中向时任沃尔玛审计委员会主席的罗兰•赫尔南德斯发出了严厉警告，信中写道：“强有力的内部控制……对于充分遵守法律法规来说相当重要……我们敦促贵审计委员会委派一个由独立董事组成的特别委员会，对公司的内部控制进行彻底评估。”虽然这封信的内容并非针对行贿丑闻，不过这封信的署名人不仅包括纽约和伊利诺依州的几家养老基金，还包括教育界养老基金USS以及F&C投资管理公司等。这表明沃尔玛的确存在着董事会没有注意到的问题，而对某一领域控制不力，很可能预示着台面下还存在着更大的隐患。 沃尔玛董事会当时并没有意识到问题的严重性，只是给出了一个不痛不痒的回复——两个月后，赫尔南德斯回信表示，公司的遵纪守法体系运行良好，审计委员会掌握着局面。不过各支基金还是在2005年纽约举办的一次会议上对这个问题穷追不舍。赫尔南德斯和沃尔玛审计委员会的现任主席克里斯•威廉姆斯都当时都出席了这次会议。 |
No working stiff wants bad news about his performance to hit the boss' desk right before review time. Although the review is supposed to represent a year's worth of effort, there's always a chance that the "what have you done for me lately?" question will influence the review and pay outcome. The same happens with boards and CEOs in the run up to their companies' respective annual shareholder meetings. This hasn't been a fortunate year for the largest of firms on that front. At Citi (C), the inability to pay a promised dividend because of a lack of Fed confidence hit the headlines prior to its annual meeting, where shareholders voted down its executive pay plan. J.P. Morgan's (JPM) more than $2 billion trading debacle made headlines right before that bank's annual meeting last week, a story that has led to investigations that will not go away anytime soon. And Wal-Mart (WMT) might have preferred for the New York Times' bribery investigation to hit the presses sometime other than the run up to its annual meeting on June 1. For the first time in its history, pension fund CalSTRS has initiated a suit on behalf of Wal-Mart and its shareholders against the retail giant's executives and directors for their handling of the bribery scandal and investigation. "We take our responsibility to our shareholders very seriously. We are reviewing the lawsuit closely and are thoroughly investigating the issues that have been raised," a Wal-Mart spokesperson emailed me. In advance of the company's upcoming board meeting, the New York City Pension fund will be voting no on the re-election of five of Wal-Mart's directors. Missed warning signs at Wal-Mart Wal-Mart's board received warnings on its compliance oversight seven years ago, newly released documents reveal. In a On May 25, 2005 letter to Roland Hernandez, who was then chair of Wal-Mart's audit committee, New York City Comptroller William Thompson gave fair warning: "Strong internal controls are … essential to ensuring full legal and regulatory compliance.… We urge the Audit Committee to appoint a special committee of independent directors to conduct a thorough review of the company's controls," the letter said. Although the impetus for the letter was not the bribery scandal, the signatories to the letter, which included the New York City and Illinois pension funds as well as USS and F&C Investment Management, recognized what the board did not seem to: weak controls in one area can be a symptom of larger problems yet to be unearthed. Rather than recognize the seriousness of these issues, the board offered a weak response: two months later, Hernandez wrote that the compliance systems for the company were in good shape and that the audit committee was on top of things. But the funds continued to pursue the issue in a meeting in New York City held in September 2005. Both Hernandez and Wal-Mart's current audit chair, Chris Williams, attended. |
