Corporate Governance Quotient (CGQ®), a corporate governance rating system provided by Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) on over 8,000 companies worldwide, evaluates the strengths, deficiencies, and risks of a company's corporate governance practices and board of directors.

CGQ uses a comprehensive set of objectives and consistently applied criteria for each of the companies rated. The database features corporate governance rankings on more than 8,000 companies worldwide, and includes underlying data points for up to 63 corporate governance variables, categorized under four areas of focus: 1) board of directors, 2) audit, 3) anti-takeover provisions, 4) executive and director compensation. Some of the variables are reviewed together under the premise that corporate governance is enhanced when selected combinations of these variables are adopted. To facilitate analytical comparison, each company is scored individually, relative to its market index and its industry group.

The data provided in CGQ is derived primarily from public disclosure documents, press releases and corporate websites. It then goes through a rigorous verification process by ISS' senior corporate governance analysts and is put in to the CGQ database.

Two CGQ ratings are generated on each company. Each company's CGQ is compared with other companies in the same index and industry group.

All scores are relative (percentile basis):

• CGQ Index Score: Compare to relevant market index including: S&P 500, Mid-Cap 400, Small-Cap 600, Russell 3000, ISS Small-Cap, S&P/TSX
• CGQ Industry Score: Compare to industry peer group using 24 Standard S&P "GICS" groups

Users can access CGQ data on Yahoo! Finance's Company Profile pages.