IOSCO Principles for Periodic Disclosure by Listed Entities

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22 Feb, 2010

The Technical Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has published a report Principles for Periodic Disclosure by Listed Entities.

The report includes a set of recommendations for disclosures that could be provided in the periodic reports, particularly annual reports, of entities whose securities are listed or admitted to trading on a regulated market in which retail investors participate. The disclosure principles also cover other issues related to periodic disclosure, such as the timeliness of disclosures, disclosure criteria, and storage of information. The principles are intended to provide a useful framework for securities regulators that are reviewing or revising their regulatory disclosure regime for periodic reports.

The IOSCO report identifies the following principles as essential for any periodic disclosure regime:

  1. Periodic reports should contain relevant information (the IOSCO report elaborates on this principle in considerable detail)
  2. For those periodic reports in which financial statements are included, the persons responsible for the financial statements provided should be clearly identified, and should state that the financial information provided in the report is fairly presented
  3. The issuer's internal control over financial reporting should be assessed or reviewed
  4. Information should be available to the public on a timely basis
  5. Periodic reports should be filed with the relevant regulator
  6. The information should be stored to facilitate public access to the information
  7. Disclosure criteria (including fair presentation, not misleading, no material omissions, clear and concise language)
  8. Equal access to disclosure by all investors at the same time
  9. Equivalence of disclosure in all markets in which the entity is listed
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