Addressing more than just near-term share prices is key to shareholder and company success according to the latest AMP Capital Corporate Governance Report.

The AMP Capital Corporate Governance 2013 mid year report states that responsibility falls both to companies to understand and also to shareholders to clarify their objectives before a mutually beneficial relationship can be established.

AMP Capital Corporate Governance Manager Karin Halliday says companies are under increasing pressure to deliver a complicated set of outcomes for their diverse shareholders.

“Companies and shareholders are not all the same, each have different objectives and different challenges. We’d all benefit from understanding each other’s position but to do that shareholders need to be clear about what they want and have a way to communicate that effectively,” Ms Halliday said.

“Shareholders must also give companies room to successfully balance short and long-term drivers of value.”

Ms Halliday warns that companies and shareholders who focus on the short-term may be sacrificing tomorrow’s growth for today’s gain. The report provides an update following the recent tragedies in the Bangladeshi garment industry where sustainable practices were overlooked for short-term reward.

The Corporate Governance Report is released twice a year and provides a summary of AMP Capital’s corporate governance activity. AMP Capital takes seriously its responsibilities as an investment manager, as an agent of shareholders in companies and as a steward of its clients’ assets.

The latest report includes an analysis of the first half of the 2013 proxy season, detailing the votes cast and the governance issues considered. Additionally it provides a snapshot of voting statistics for internally-managed global portfolios.

AMP Capital submitted votes on over 338 resolutions at 72 company meetings in the first half of 2013 in Australia. Of these resolutions 83 per cent were supported. AMP Capital either voted against, or specifically abstained from voting on around 16 per cent of resolutions including resolutions relating to remuneration reports and incentive plans.