The NASPP Blog

Although voting ends at 5 p.m. CT on December 31st, our friends at TheCorporateCounsel.net have taken an astounding lead in the 2009 ABA Journal Blawg 100! Not only are they blowing away the competition in their own Practice Specific category, they’ve received the most votes of any other blog in the Blawg 100.

Now, not all of the ABA Journal’s picks have the same appeal to stock plan managers as the TheCorporateCounsel.net blog. Here are my top picks of blogs that you may want to follow (besides our own illustrious NASPP blog, of course!).

1. TheCorporateCounsel.net Blog

   Broc Romanek and Dave Lynn put together a fun and witty blog that covers the latest news on corporate governance issues (if you’ve never followed them, you may not think that “fun” or “witty” belong in the same sentence as “corporate governance”, so you’ll just have to go see for yourself). The two most recent entries cover Canadian securities regulators’ decision not to overhaul the corporate governance regime (to stay more in line with the U.S. regime) and the extension of the proxy access proposal comment period. Canada’s decision is particularly interesting because although the original proposal would have moved away from mandatory requirements.

2. Risk & Governance Blog

   This blog by RiskMetrics Group will not only keep you notified on legislation relating to corporate governance, but will also give you the jump on RMG opinions, which could be key to getting through your proxy season. The most recent entry is on the SEC’s new disclosure rules, which includes the requirement to disclose grant date fair value of equity, rather than the current accounting value.

3. FEI’s Financial Reporting Blog

   Author Edith Orenstein provides details and observations on financial reporting news. Her entries are quite detailed and her observations point out issues that might not otherwise come to your attention. A recent entry discusses the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. One observation she makes is whether some vague language in the bill regarding assessing international developments has been inserted as part of the future move to IFRS accounting standards.

4. The Corporate Library

   A whole team of authors contribute to this blog to bring you the latest news about corporate governance and sustainable investing. Many entries cover issues surrounding executive compensation. A recent blog entry outlines the risks inherent in high CEO pay differentials (and even gives a not to our own Jesse Brill). The two greatest risks highlighted in this entry are the obvious issue of poor morale both in the executive team and among the rank and file as well as issues with succession planning (“If the CEO is paid 10 times more than anyone else, who could possibly take his or her place?”)

5. The IR Web Report

   The IR Web Report blog covers a really wide range of investor relations issues including regulatory initiatives, hot topics on the minds of investor relations specialists, and even the latest uses of technology in the world of IR. The most recent entry covers how Regulation D relates to new media like blogs and social networks. Author Dominic Jones points out that executives or IROs participating in public forums like Seeking Alpha is “much less risky than the common IR practice of meeting pushy professional investors in private.”

The end of the year is coming fast; I hope you’ve prepared well and will be able to enjoy some time off! Want to see how your year-end preparations measure up? Take our Preparing for Year-End Compliance-O-Meter. Also, no year-end prep is complete without ensuring continued access to the amazing resources available on the NASPP.com website. Don’t forget to renew your membership! If you’re not already an NASPP member, join today.

-Rachel