NEED TO KNOW

Aug. 8, 2012 — When a co-op’s shareholders want access to the corporation’s financial records, are the documents an open book – or are they a secret diary? And what if the shareholder is a former board member? That’s the question posed to our attorney panel in today’s episode. It’s a must-listen for both board watchdogs and the boards they watch.

It’s a seemingly simple question that raises a surprising number of issues. How much information do shareholders have the right to, and how much transparency is in the best interest of the corporation? And there are rules about what documents the board has to release, but are there rules about what information those documents have to contain? It’s a tricky subject with a lot of gray areas, and our panelists break it all down. On the panel this week: Eric Goidel of Borah, Goldstein, Altschuler, Nahins & Goidel and Howard Schechter of Schechter & Brucker. (Illustration by J.D. King.)