"This is very encouraging," said John Bulkley, managing director of KPMG Peat Marwick in Moscow. "They're giving people an idea of what is civilized behavior."
Bulkley said the move would give the firms that are taking additional responsibilities increased access to Russian and foreign capital.
Russian government officials estimate that foreign portfolio investment has risen to $600 a month from a mere $150 at the start of the year, but noted that property rights must be secured to maintain the capital inflow.
The Declaration of Shareholders' Rights, signed Wednesday by seven of Russia's leading industrial companies and investment funds, guarantees the property rights of their 8 million investors and requires the companies to provide the shareholders with detailed financial information.
In what amounts to an unofficial Bill of Rights for investors, the signatories also banned the use of insider information for personal gain and promised to place company shareholder registers in the hands of independent managers.
Western and Russian stock brokers welcomed the move to regulate the country's still-chaotic securities market, but said their final judgement would come after the actual effects of the self-regulation are seen in day-to-day market operations.
Viktor Agroskin, vice-president of the Rinaco-Plus brokerage firm, said that investors still have difficulties when dealing with some of the companies that signed the document.
He said managers of shareholders' registers often charge excessive fees for registering share purchases, adding that the fees range from 1,000 rubles per transaction to 4 percent of the entire purchase, which can amount to millions of dollars.
The bill stipulates that such fees should not "hamper market development."
"We need to wait and see how companies follow this convention," Agroskin said.
"When Russian companies seek inflow of foreign capital, they've got to be prepared to tell what they do now and what they plan to do," agreed Mary Ginsberg, director at LTS-Finance.
Ginsberg called the bill a "positive step," but noted that financial disclosures by Russian standards may not fully satisfy foreign investors.
She said investors are having difficulties, for example, trying to figure out which company assets are productive and which are designed to provide social support to employees.
The bill of investors' rights was signed by the oil giant LUKoil, electricity monopoly United Energy Systems, optics manufacturer LOMO, textile factory Tryokhgornaya Manufaktura and investment funds Pervy Vaucherny, Derzhava and Moskovskaya Nedvizhimost.
The accord also prohibits companies from issuing shares to cover losses or debts and bans company directors from using insider information for personal profit.
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