This year, the Infosys annual report has spelt out the firm's policy on corporate governance, and has elaborated on the company's risk management policy. It can be argued that this emphasis on disclosure is a direct fallout of globalisation process. Foreign investors, especially US investors, are used to high levels of transparency at home, and expect the same elsewhere.

Infosys, with its largely foreign clientele, took the lead in giving information to investors, and its transparency has always been a factor making for a high level of investor comfort, besides helping it when it went in for a Nasdaq listing. Infosys is now a global stock, and its annual report reflects this fact.

The other factor which is brought out by its annualreport is the importance of brand valuation. Infosys estimates its brand value to have risen 243 per cent in the past year. In case of most Indian software firms, however, brands are not really the driving force for business. Brands are important in other kinds of companies, the big FMCG firms being prime examples. For Infosys, the quality of its human capital may be of greater importance, which is why it puts a value on it. Brand and human resource valuation are important because they draw attention to assets which are often not taken into account in a conventional balance sheet. In a knowledge-based society, brands, patents, copyrights and human resources will drive wealth-creation, and ways need to be found to incorporate their value in financial statements.