regulatory rulings ensued without full consultation with the private sector.

The result
of this is that some articles promulgated under Costa Rican regulations are even harsh-
er than the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the United States. Naturally, the private sector react-
ed. Some companies immediately filed a suit, alleging jurisdictional and privacy viola-
tions. Others decided it was time to de-list. The Board members of Atlas believed that
a fair settlement would come out of the court rulings, and the benefits of staying listed
in the BNV outweigh any temporary inconveniences. Currently, some of the issued
CONASSIF rulings are suspended by the Constitutional Court, and the case is still
pending a final resolution. Some of those suspended rulings related to the Audit
Committee. The Atlas Board of Directors deemed it desirable to comply with the new
formal requirements for the Audit Committee anyway, and have it function as though
the rulings were still in place, despite their suspension.
Transparency is of the highest value to Atlas, and its practices are consistent with this
value. Every quarter the company must file its financial information, which is compiled
according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Once filed, Atlas’s
financial information is placed in the public domain via the web page of the
Superintendencia General de Valores (SUGEVAL). The year-end audited financial
information is also posted on the same network.
Financial statements of Atlas are audited by the external audit firm KPMG Peat
Marwick. The external auditors are accountable to the Audit Committee of the Board.
Also, once a year, with quarterly updates, an external company qualifies Atlas from a risk
perspective. The company’s chief of internal audit reports directly to the Audit Committee.
Another Atlas initiative to highlight transparency has been the Board’s policy that all
key personnel of the company as well as the members of the Board of Directors, on an
annual basis, have to sign and certify that they have read and understood the Code of
Ethics of the company. This Code addresses topics like legal compliance, conflicts of
interest and use of confidential information. At the current moment, a new version of
the Code of Ethics is being reviewed and scheduled for implementation later this year.
Overall, the responsibility to oversee corporate governance practices and undertake
any improvements at Atlas lay with the CEO and CFO.

The “Golden Cage” Effect of the Marketplace

Because of the limited number of companies whose shares have been issued in the BNV,
the market has not had adequate liquidity, and this has in some way affected the share
price of the majority of companies in the Costa Rican market. The main shareholders
of these companies do not on a regular basis make important transactions on the mar-
ket. This hampers the stock exchange’s ability to convey the “true” price of listed com-
panies, negatively affecting the companies’ market capitalization value.

4 Companies Circle