Quality of management: Identifying good and bad companies in same space

A company may present honest accounts, while treating minority shareholders badly

One soft skill for long-term investors is judging the quality of management. Vision is a subjective factor -opinions will always differ on management vision. Operational competence can be assessed by benchmarking a firm against other businesses in the same space.
 
Probity and honesty are both decidedly tricky areas. There are two key factors that investors must consider in their judgement calls. One is to judge if the management treats minority shareholders and stakeholders fairly. The other area is making a call on whether the financials present a true picture or are fudged in some way.
 
Honesty and probity