As a result of the training received in the course of the CSD project the participating representatives of the mass media improved their skills to cover corporate governance issues and to mobilize a larger constituency in favor of reform.

Through the public outreach efforts of journalists participating in the CSD program, awareness of the efforts undertaken so far in Bulgaria in terms of corporate governance reform has been increased. Numerous publications in the national and local media in Bulgaria, and Internet-based outreach efforts on CSD's website have provided a strong multiplier effect and indicate the important coalition-building approach necessary to make corporate governance reforms a success.

The project has contributed significantly to facilitating the understanding of the language of corporate governance, widening the constituency of corporate governance reform among investors, helping companies' management focus on the relevant business tasks and thus achieve greater efficiency, and bringing life to the principle of transparency and disclosure of information.

Building on the accomplishments of the past several years, the Center for the Study of Democracy continues to work toward achieving greater public and private awareness of corporate governance principles through public education, advocacy and dissemination-key long-term goals of the Corporate Governance Initiative in Bulgaria. By formally incorporating journalists into its effective coalition building approach, this CSD project has further prepared the broad stakeholder community in Bulgaria to accept and advocate for better democratic governance reforms.

With a new government in office in Bulgaria, it is critical that the efforts to date to strengthen governance institutions are not only continued, but expanded to a broader audience. Looking to the future, next steps for corporate governance reform in Bulgaria need to include closer involvement and leadership by business practitioners. Without effective self regulation and good governance at the firm level as well as the state level, good governance practices cannot be fully achieved. CSD has laid the groundwork for such reform and now is the time to more closely engage the business community in Bulgaria in taking a leading role in the governance reform process.

The Corporate Governance Initiative for Bulgaria (CGI) is a coalition of Bulgarian non-governmental organizations established in 1999. The main objective of the CGI is to facilitate the adoption of relevant corporate governance standards and procedures that would ensure accountability and transparency in business operations in Bulgaria and Central and Eastern Europe. Their website is: www.csd.bg/cgi/

A Glossary of Corporate Governance Terms entitled the English-Bulgarian Corporate Governance Dictionary was published, and is also available online at: http://www.csd.bg/CGdictionary_anons.html.

The dictionary was sent to the participants of the seminar, to all major national and regional media to be used by journalists covering business, as well as to businessmen and investor associations, major libraries in the country, and large and medium-size enterprises. It is targeted at a wide range of readers as corporate managers, shareholders, financial specialists, stock brokers, bankers, university students, lecturers and everyone involved in business.

This Dictionary is the first specialized edition in the area of corporate governance. It is a key output of the CSD's " Corporate Governance Reform and Mass Media: Building Advocacy Capacity" project and is aimed at providing effective support to a wide range of media experts, reporting or analyzing the status and performance of Bulgarian companies. It will contribute to a better understanding of the internal business processes and their objective presentation, which the wide public needs.

The pocket-size Dictionary contains around 300 terms and expressions, covering the most actively developing areas of corporate governance, law, accounting and finance, stock exchange and taxation. The authors have provided precise translation or the proper Bulgarian equivalent of the English terms used, while some of them are additionally explained and clarified. The terms are presented in the universally accepted spelling and transcription and are grouped at the end of the publication in Indexes in both languages.

The main information sources for this dictionary were: "In Search of Good Directors: Corporate Boards in Market and Transition Economies" (1998, CIPE, US) and "A Handbook of Corporate Governance and Selected Basic Financial and Accounting terms" (June 1994, Moscow).