Corporate governance

Roundtable

It has been five years since Enron Corp. collapsed, turning a spotlight on the work of boards of directors and the governance practices at public companies. Since then, new laws and regulations have been drafted to improve corporate governance, and companies have also faced a growing tide of shareholder activism. In Canada, a group of large instiutional investors banded together to create the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, which has lobbied boards to voluntarily adopt a variety of governance practices, especially greater disclosure of compensation information.

In 2002, Report on Business launched an annual assessment of the governance practices of large public companies, scoring and ranking them based on various recommended best practices for boards. This year marks the fifth installment of the Board Games project, and the data shows a dramatic shift over five years in many key areas.

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