Corporate governance and accountability

"Recent years have witnessed an exponential growth in corporate governance. Improvements in corporate governance practice are being orchestrated at a global level. International bodies such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have developed internationally acceptable standards of corporate governance. In the UK, companies are continuing to strengthen their generally sound corporate governance systems, focusing on shareholder and stakeholder relations and accountability, improvements in the performance of boards of directors, auditors and the accounting function, and paying attention to the ways in which their companies are controlled and run. Similarly, institutional investors, accountants, auditors and the general public are increasingly aware of a continuing need to promote corporate governance reform. Scandals such as Enron, and more recently Carillion, have driven home this need for constant reform"--