CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND TRANSPARENCY SCENARIO IN ASIA

Abstract

CG in Asia have assumed greater limelight with the series of corporate failings and scandals, following which the markets, investors and society at large have begun to loose faith in the infallibility of these systems. It provides an overview of the CG practices and transparency scenario prevalent in the Asia region, duly supported by empirical data. No doubt, several initiatives have been undertaken by various national and international agencies, and CG scenario have considerably improved, but much work still remains to be done, and the ethos of CG culture has yet to sink in fully. We highly appreciate the timely and bold initiative taken by the Council of the ICAI to agree to fully converge with IFRS standards on or after 1 April 2011. This article seeks to present a series of suggestions aimed to improve CG practices in India. Most notably, India must reform how its boards of directors function, improve its enforcement mechanisms, redefine its corporate laws, and embrace CG as a philosophy. The country should be proud of what it has achieved in CG practices but, of course, much more needs to be done. Thus, CG in India and Asia remains a work-in-progress requiring some rethinking.