Who can attend shareholders' general meeting?

At Shareholders general meeting, a vote on company issues and/or the members of the board of directors takes place. For big corporations, this may be the only interaction between the shareholders and executives of the company. In the case of shareholders not being able to or do not wish to attend in person, they can usually vote by proxy (online or by mail). Also, there often is a “questions for the directors of the company” time during a Shareholders general meeting in which many issues can be raised directly to the people in charge.

The most commonly topics during a Shareholders general meeting include:

• Summary of the previous meeting must be presented and approved.
• Current fiscal year financial statements.
• Election for the next year’s board of directors, vote by the shareholders.
• Vote for the company's activities (payment of dividend, merger and acquisition for example).
• The current board of directors’s explanation if last year’s performance was poor.

In general, these meetings are compulsory and done annually. However, there are exceptional cases such as significant problems or crises in which an extraordinary Shareholders general meeting may be called.