Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), studies and provides information on corporate proxy votes, principally for the benefit of institutional investors (pension funds, college endowments, etc.). They also make recommendations as to whether it is in a shareholder's best interest to vote for or against particular proxies, and they advise businesses on how to handle corporate governance issues.
ISS is a unit of the MSCI, and the MSCI web site provides information about ISS under the "Environmental, Social & .Governance" tab. The ISS phone number is 301-556-0500.
Corporate ISS Corporate Governance Quotient Profiles analyze "the quality of corporate boards and the impact of their governance practices." They are available on Westlaw (CORPGOV) and, by subscription, through the Government Analytics website.
Reports: ISS Proxy Reports analyze proxy issues and make voting recommendations for annual shareholder meeting. The reports are available, by subscription, through the Government Analytics website. There is an archive on Westlaw covering on
Westlaw (ISS) from 1997 to February 2011.
Policies and Guidelines: RiskMetrics posts substantial summaries of the Policies and Guidelines the company uses to analyze proxies and other matters. Clients can access the complete reports.
Competition: The other major independant shareholder advisory service is Glass Lewis & Company. See also "Anaylyst Reports."