- OECD Principles
- Standard and Poor
- Cadbury Committee, UK
- CII
- Kumar Managalam Birla Committee
- N.R.Narayana Murthy Committee
- Institute of Company Secretaries of India
- Milton Friedman, Noble laureate
- James D Wolfensohn, President of World Bank
- Corporate Governance in HPCL
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries took early initiatives to address Corporate Governance issues. OECD defined corporate governance to mean "A system by which business corporations are directed and controlled towards achieving the following”:
- Ensuring the basis for an effective corporate governance framework.
- The rights of shareholders and key ownership functions
- The equitable treatment of shareholders
- The role of stakeholders in corporate governance
- Disclosure and Transparency
- Defining the responsibilities of the Board
"The way a company is organized and managed to ensure that all financial stake holders (shareholders and creditors) receive their fair share of a company's earnings and assets".
- Fulfilling long term strategic goals or owners
- Taking care of the interests of employees
- A consideration for the environment and local community
- Maintaining excellent relations with customers and suppliers
- Proper compliance with all the applicable legal and regulatory requirements
Corporate governance deals with laws, procedures, practices and implicit rules that determine a company's ability to take informed managerial decisions vis -a-vis its claimants - in particular, its shareholders, creditors, customers, the State and employees. There is a global consensus about the objective of 'good' corporate governance: maximising long term shareholder value"
"Strong corporate governance is indispensable to resilient and vibrant capital markets and is an important instrument of investor protection. It is the blood that fills the veins of transparent corporate disclosure and high quality accounting practices. It is the muscle that moves a viable and accessible financial reporting structure ".
"Corporate Governance is the acceptance by management of the inalienable rights of shareholders as the true owners of the Corporation and of their own role as trustees on behalf of the shareholders. It is about commitment to values, about ethical business conduct and about making a distinction between personal and corporate funds in the management of a company".
"Corporate Governance is the application of best management practices, compliance of law in true letter and spirit and adherence to ethical standards for effective management and distribution of wealth and discharge of social responsibility for sustainable development of all stakeholders".
In the narrowest sense, "the conduct of business in accordance with shareholders' desires, which generally is to make as much money as possible, while conforming to the basic rules of the society embodied in law and local customs”.
"Corporate Governance is about promoting corporate fairness, transparency and accountability".
(Source: Corporate Governance {Models of Best Practices} 6th edition published by Institute of Company Secretaries of India, New Delhi).
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