Proceedings of the International Association for Business and Society

Volume 17, 2006

Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Meeting

Transparency and Corporate Governance
Mutual Fund Shareholder Resolution Proxy Voting Publication and Shareholder Responsibility

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission recently began requiring mutual funds to make their proxy voting transparent so that investors can make better decisions about investing with the mutual fund and with the ultimate goal of improving corporate governance. We review the proxy voting records of major mutual funds to determine if transparency has changed the patterns of voting by mutual funds. Initial results show that support for management increased and support for social responsibility resolutions decreased after transparency was required.