The Ministry of Finance ("MOF") has accepted the recommendations of the Council on Corporate Disclosure and Governance ("CCDG") to proceed to implement the quarterly reporting requirement for listed companies, but to defer the implementation date for companies with a market capitalisation of S$20 million or below by one year.

The idea of mandatory quarterly reporting for listed companies was mooted by the Disclosure and Accounting Standards Committee ("DASC": a private-sector-led committee that was appointed by the Minister for Finance) during its first public consultation in December 2000. The recommendation was also highlighted in the DASC's second public consultation in May 2001.

The DASC submitted its report to the government in September 2001. In October 2001, the government accepted the DASC's recommendation for all listed companies to do quarterly reporting for financial periods starting from 1 January 2003.

After its formation in August 2002, the CCDG initiated a discussion on the quarterly reporting requirement. The CCDG has completed its review and submitted the following recommendations to MOF (please see Annex for the letter from Chairman, CCDG). MOF has accepted the CCDG’s recommendations as follows:

1. Quarterly reporting should be mandatory for all companies listed on the Singapore Exchange ("SGX");
2. The timing for quarterly reporting should be the financial periods starting 1 January 2003, except for companies with a market capitalisation of $20 million or below (as at 30 September 2002), which will be required to release their quarterly financial results from financial periods starting 1 January 2004; and
3. Companies should adopt a consistent format for the quarterly reports. Companies that do quarterly reporting need not prepare a separate half-year report at the end of the second quarter.

Chairman CCDG said that the Council was persuaded to the importance of quarterly reporting of financial results by the need for timely disclosure in the context of a rapidly evolving economy and increasingly volatile markets. The move to a disclosure-based regime sharpens the need for investors to be more frequently informed of the progress of companies. A second persuasive factor for the Council was the growing trend in leading jurisdictions for listed companies to release financial results quarterly. Chairman CCDG added that in making its recommendations, the Council recognised the salience of cost and the concerns of SMEs.

Issued by: MINISTRY OF FINANCE
Date: 18 October 2002