While most companies are embracing technology when it comes to their GRC (governance, risk and compliance news) processes, the proxy process and annual meetings remain a low-tech, manually-driven event. To be sure, more companies have taken steps to use the Internet to provide proxy material to shareholders (shareholder news), but most still rely on the old-fashioned paper-based approach.

The SEC's (SEC news) new rules on e-proxies have just gone into effect, and some people think that big changes are coming. The new rules extend the initial rules passed in late 2007, which allowed public companies to make their proxy materials available to shareholders through the Internet access only, by traditional printed materials or a combination. The new extensions to the rules aim to boost shareholder activity, as online proxy campaigns were associated with low voter turnout and higher confusion. The new rules allow for more flexibility and explanation. We'll have to wait and see if voter participation increases.

In any case, there appears to be one casualty of all this: The traditional printed annual report. CFO.com notes that more companies are opting for online versions and simple 10-K wraps. But we'll have to see how much companies invest in their online versions. Some would like to turn them into modern multimedia efforts, though few companies have moved in this direction wholeheartedly. Caution seems to be the guiding principle. 

For more:
- here's the CFO.com article

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