A wave of business scandals in the past few years has focused much more attention on how companies are run, but even many investor watchdogs don't exactly agree on how to assess corporate governance.
Firms such as high-profile proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services publish corporate governance report cards, on issues including executive pay and board independence.
But since each uses its own methodology, the ratings can be all over the map. Some investors do not look too closely at governance to start with, and even those who do say the lack of scoring consistency makes it hard to put much stock in them.
"You can't just accept these ratings at face value," said Bill Hackney, managing partner at Atlanta Capital Management, which oversees $9 billion in investments. "We don't think you can distill these issues down to an individual score."
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