Abstract:
This review of Annual General Meetings (AGMs) as they evolved historically in English
parishes and early joint-stock companies shows the manner in which they provided
valuable opportunities to fulfil organisational accountability. AGMs enabled members
to call elected governors to account and, in generating forums for organisational
construction, supplied models which were foundational in early company law. As faceto-
face meetings, AGMs were heterogeneous and presented non-financial information
to augment publicly available financial information.
Whilst low attendance at AGMs indicates apathy and modern technological advances
may enable their replacement, recent calls to revise the legal requirement for an AGM
have not gained traction. This paper therefore suggests a recommitment to the process
of AGM accountability as practised in early public sector and profit-oriented
organisations. This will enable today’s organisations to utilise the potential of the AGM
as a formal and transparent mechanism to deliver accountability.
