The Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) will assess and honour the top 30 listed companies for best corporate governance in November during its annual convention for listed businesses.

The assessment programme will include all 352 companies listed on the northern bourse prior to April 20, except those delisted by that date, the HNX said.

This year’s assessment programme aims to evaluate the quality of corporate governance among these listed companies, set the results as background data for market regulators and listed businesses to develop a “soft enforcement” mechanism and improve businesses’ corporate governance.

The assessment criteria are based on corporate governance regulations, including the Law of Enterprises, Circular 121/2012/TT-BTC, Circular 155/2015/TT-BTC, and other international regulatory policies.

The criteria consists of 70 questions that are divided into two sections. While one group includes questions that cover Viet Nam’s legal framework, the other has questions that cover international practices.

The questions are also divided into four categories: shareholders’ rights, equal treatment and basic ownership rights among shareholders, information disclosure and transparency, and the accountability of the management and supervisory boards.

The assessment is conducted on the view of investors to listed businesses.The source of information is what the listed companies disclosed and was reported broadly for the financial year 2016.

Data will also come from the charter of the company, internal regulations on corporate governance, resolutions and minutes in shareholder meetings, quarterly, half-yearly and annual audited financial reports, the annual report, corporate governance report, ordinary and extraordinary information disclosures, the business website, and other materials.

An independent third-party unit will do data assessment so as to ensure that the programme is transparent, neutral and professional.

It is important and necessary to develop a legal framework and enforcement mechanism that require listed businesses to carry out good corporate governance, the HNX said. – VNS