The Canadian Venture Exchange and Deloitte & Touche have released the first-ever survey results of the corporate governance practices of emerging issuers.

CDNX issuers acknowledge the importance of good corporate governance and would welcome tools and assistance in developing their governance structures. They insist that corporate governance approaches be relevant to small issuers.

The CDNX Corporate Governance Survey was the first governance survey of CDNX issuers and first survey to specifically address the governance practices of smaller issuers. CDNX says it will use the survey results as a guide when reviewing the Saucier Committee’s final report, due in September 2001.

The survey requested suggestions from issuers on how CDNX could help them improve governance practices. It was conducted by Deloitte & Touche and polled CDNX issuers on their current governance practices and provided them an opportunity to make recommendations on how to improve corporate governance for smaller issuers.

“This is the first survey of its kind to specifically address the practices of smaller issuers,” says Matt Bootle, director of accounting standards for CDNX. “The feedback from our listed companies was very clear. CDNX issuers want to practice good governance, but are looking for approaches that are relevant to small issuers.”

The survey was distributed to all active Tier 1 and Tier 2 CDNX issuers, which includes some 1,800 listed companies. More than 50 per cent of the survey respondents had either less than $5 million in total assets or $1 million in annual revenues.