Corporate Governance - Regulatory & Cultural Issues

Abstract

Corporate Governance has been gaining momentum across the world due to miserable corporate failures, unethical business practices and insufficient disclosure etc.. Corporate Governance depends upon two factors. First is the commitment of the management for the principles of integrity and transparency in the business operations and the second are the legal and administrative framework created by the Govt. There is a gap between percept and practice of Corporate Governance. Privatization/disinvestment of public sector and rapidly emerging private sectors with multinationals have resulted in poor state of affair of domestic cooperative sector. Indian corporations are seriously engaged in the re-evaluating their strategy. Various codes and committees have been formed be it Cadbury’s code, Narayananmurthy committee, Birla Committee, to improvise upon various provisions of Corporate Governance. With all the new standards and changes in accounting and reporting standards have been set, the focus was on the process of enforcement and compliance with external laws and regulation. But in today’s scenario we need is the character at the heart of the company which is much more than just codes or statutory compliances. There is no easy answer as to what is the best solution for good governance. But corporates should look for a balance between achieving necessary levels of accountability and ensuring that governance arrangements do no stifle flexibility, innovation and collaboration

Keywords: Corporate Governance, Transparency, Unethical business practices, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Ethics