《Corporate governance in the UK》.doc

Corporate governance in the UK & US By ? Adam Dowdney, Corporate Partner, Clarkslegal LLP, London, UK ? ? Background What is meant by the term “corporate governance”? It is basically the systems and processes established by corporate entities for ensuring proper accountability, probity and openness in the conduct of an organisation’s business. The basic principles of corporate governance include transparency, accountability, fairness and responsibility founded upon the concept of disclosure to encourage the necessary trust and confidence of shareholders. ? Recently, corporate governance has been very much in the spotlight in the UK following the publication of a number of important reports, all of which have had an influence on the corporate governance environment in which we operate today. However, the current UK corporate governance environment does not exist in isolation, as there have been significant influences from Europe and the US. In particular, the collapse of Corporate governance in the UK & US By ? Adam Dowdney, Corporate Partner, Clarkslegal LLP, London, UK ? ? Background What is meant by the term “corporate governance”? It is basically the systems and processes established by corporate entities for ensuring proper accountability, probity and openness in the conduct of an organisation’s business. The basic principles of corporate governance include transparency, accountability, fairness and responsibility founded upon the concept of disclosure to encourage the necessary trust and confidence of shareholders. ? Recently, corporate governance has been very much in the spotlight in the UK following the publication of a number of important reports, all of which have had an influence on the corporate governance environment in which we operate today. However, the current UK corporate governance environment does not exist in isolation, as there have been significant influences from Europe and the US. In particular, the collapse of Enron and WorldCom in 2002