Balancing act : the tightrope of corporate governance reform

Alice Klettner, Thomas Clarke, Michael A. Adams

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    Abstract

    The results of this research suggest the standards of corporate governance in Australia are very high. Certainly as far as the companies in this research sample are concerned this country has struck the right balance between self-regulation and blackletter law. There was much comparison with the US regime which is generally thought to have failed in finding that balance by being too prescriptive and costly for smaller companies. In contrast to the controversy often raised in the business press in Australia about the huge costs involved in governance regulation, in this survey few participants said that corporate governance reform had caused them to incur significant costs. The 'if not, why not' regime permits flexibility and individuality but forces companies to consider and justify their practices (explanations that investors must be encouraged to consider more sympathetically). Having achieved major strides forward in putting corporate governance in order in Australian companies, there is, as yet, less evidence of the energy necessary to achieve world class standards on such a comprehensive basis in the implementation of corporate social responsibility.
    Original languageEnglish
    Number of pages6
    JournalKeeping good companies
    Publication statusPublished - 2007

    Keywords

    • corporate governance
    • social responsibility of business
    • company law
    • law reform
    • Australia

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