A Study On Shareholders' Right To Know

Shareholders' right to know is a common type in company litigation.In recent years,the number of shareholders' right to know lawsuit has continuously increased.There are many difficult problems in the judicial practice,mainly focusing on whether it is possible to inspect accounting documents and how to identify improper purposes.The “Company Law Interpretation IV” has made specific provisions on the subject of the shareholders' right to know,improper purposes,entrusted agency,and liability for compensation.However,it is still insufficient to fill up the omission of legal texts.The judges still have to face with controversy.This article first analyzes the concept of shareholders' right to know,traces back the source of the right to know,and demonstrates the basic status of shareholders' right to know.Afterwards,it analyzes the typical cases in the judicial practice,focusing on the improper purpose,the scope of inspection,etc.,and summarizes the differences arising in the current judicial practice and the formation of the judgement standard.Finally,from the perspective of rights,this paper analyzes the target rights and right object of shareholders' right to know,and puts forward that the object of shareholders' right to know is the information in company management behavior and financial accounting behavior.The scope of shareholders' right to know should be further expanded within reasonable limits.In view of the fact that the lawsuits filed by shareholders in the practice are mainly concentrated in limited liability companies,the discussion in this paper mainly focuses on limited liability companies,and a few of them involve corporation.