The Necessity for Increased Regulation of Proxy Advisory Firms

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current industry of proxy advisory firms, and the enormous influence they have on proxy voting at major U.S. companies. Their influence has grown a tremendous amount in the last decade but regulation of these firms is very weak, allowing them to behave in ways detrimental to the shareholders they are supposed to be helping. In order to ensure for an honest proxy advisory industry, the SEC needs to increase regulation of these firms and closely monitor their actions. This regulation must begin at the most basic level of these firm’s operations, advisory services pertaining to proxy voting