Annual general meeting minutes value creation: moving forward / Mohd Shazwan Mohd Ariffin, Wan Nordin Wan-Hussin and Siti Seri Delima Abdul Malak

Under Section 343 (1) of Malaysian Companies Act 2016, all public companies are statutorily required to prepare, record and keep their minutes after the general meeting was held. However, starting in 2016, revised Bursa Malaysia Listing Requirements under Chapter 9.21 Paragraph 2(b) only require all public listed companies to publish a summary of key matters discussed at the AGM as soon as possible, after the conclusion of the AGM. The future of AGM minutes is still uncertain as most of the companies are reluctant to disclose their AGM minutes. Instead, they choose to merely comply to the minimum requirements such as the key matters discussed. This paper provides descriptive insights on the AGM minutes based on the level of disclosure especially since this matter had been raised by the Minority Shareholders Watch Group (MSWG) through the Malaysia-ASEAN Corporate Governance report in 2010. Based on the data collected from the MSWG report, the general overview showed that majority of all Malaysian listed companies were unwilling to publish AGM minutes on their corporate websites. This paper examines the importance of disclosure of AGM minutes on corporate websites based on the practical, regulatory and literature perspectives. Guided by the question, “Do you think it is a good move to conduct virtual AGM meetings during an unpleased situation?” this paper may serve as a starting point to further empirical testing or measurements to examine the determinants for AGM minutes.