Nowadays people in the business world are talking about good corporate governance. Companies with good corporate governance are perceived by the public as a company that been handled properly by its management. Few companies had been names as among the worst in corporate governance like Enron, World.com and Barings.
But what is exactly corporate governance?
The term ‘corporate governance’ is coming from two words. The adjective
‘corporate’ comes from the noun ‘corporation’; while the noun ‘governance’ is derived from the verb ‘govern’. When these two words linked together, it simply refers to a group of people getting together as one united body with the task and responsibility to direct, control and rule with authority. This group or body in a collective effort is empowered to regulate, determine, restrain, curb and exercise the authority given.
As we understand its definition, let’s take a look what this corporate governance focus on, its issues and other fact related to it. Corporate governance looks at issues pertaining to transparency, integrity, effectiveness and accountability in the management of affairs, business conduct and all other activities of an organization. These issues are the keywords on corporate governance. Any decline in these core principles of corporate governance could give rise to lack confidence in the conduct and affairs of an organization. Realizing the importance of corporate governance and nerve-racking real stories like example above, many countries now have established corporate governing standards for the guidelines of company management and its board of directors.
In Malaysia, the KLSE Listing Requirement stated that companies must have its audit committee which is revolving around the issue of corporate governance. In ensuring the top level management honors their job with very much respect and dignity, the
Malaysian Government had introduced The Code of Ethics for