Turkish transperancy and disclosure survey 2008; a year of littel or no progress

Standard & Poor's Governance Services and the Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey (CGFT) at Sabanci University in Istanbul monitored and assessed corporate response to regulation and market circumstances by conducting the survey over four successive years, with the objective of providing a comparative insight into the disclosure practices of Turkish companies. Laws and regulations concerning corporate governance and their enforcement have been drastically improved during these years. The new legal and regulatory framework includes Corporate Governance Guidelines issued in 2003, directives related to audit and accounting standards and practices issued in and after 2003 by the Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMB), a new Banking Law, and directives issued by the Banking Regulatory and Supervisory Agency. This report summarizes the finding of the fourth survey and provides an insight into the impact of the regulatory changes on disclosure. The data collected are used for further research by CGFT researchers, to analyze the relationship between disclosure and transparency, disclosure and performance, and disclosure and firm characteristics.