May 26, 2002	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 13,1423

NEW YORK, May 25: The Nasdaq Stock Market issued tougher corporate governance guidelines on Friday for its 4,000-plus member companies, including clarifying that a company can get delisted for misrepresenting information.

“This is part of a process that is far from over,” said Wick Simmons, Nasdaq chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement.

The new rules also require companies to tell the public if an audit report questions its ability to continue as a going concern.

The rule “requires that a going concern qualification should be brought to the attention of investors and potential investors through a press release,” the statement said.

The announcement follows countless reports in recent months of US companies getting investigated for dubious accounting and other practices.

Also, the revisions “tighten” the definition of independent director, require related-party transactions be approved by an audit committee or comparable entity, and allow companies to disseminate certain types of information via means other than press releases.—AFP