Heightened interest in corporate governance but challenges still remain, opine Indian CFOs

Chandigarh: Today, Corporate Governance is an inevitable part of discussion in corporate boardrooms, academic roundtables, and for policy makers worldwide. With the passing of the ‘Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code’ this year, there is a heightened interest in corporate governance and its impact on India Inc. To understand the emerging trends and key governance challenges faced by organizations, ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has unveiled a study on ‘India Inc.’s readiness on Corporate Governance’ at the first edition of the ‘ACCA Leaders Forum’ at Vishakhapatnam recently. The forum was organized by ACCA in association with CFO India.

The survey examined the corporate governance (CG) requirements in terms of clarity and completeness of content, degree of enforceability and prevalence. With responses from Chief Financial Officer (CFOs) across various sectors including healthcare, research, business services providers, infrastructure providers etc., it threw up some interesting insights:

· 94% of the respondents have formally considered governance in their organizations

· About 33% of the respondents believe that the efficacy of the internal controls related to financial reporting is through internal audit whereas 12% believe it is through external consultants

· 19% percent responded that the key governance challenge in any organization is improving internal controls including bribery and fraud prevention, financial reporting and risk management

· 33% responded that the most influential driver of corporate governance practices are the board members whereas 22% believe it is the senior management

At the event Derek Sommerville, CFO, ACCA said, “Good governance will help companies develop a structure of oversight and gain corporate leadership to navigate periods of uncertainty. The research undertaken by ACCA highlights that the lack of awareness of the activity and the behaviour lower down is really the root of many problems. Good governance is more than just addressing the malfeasance at the top level but it is about ensuring transparency throughout the organization”.

He added “The effectiveness of the board underpins good governance. There needs to be diversity and balanced skill sets, and obviously strong ethics and values, and independence in decision making. Remuneration must be properly controlled, and it must be given adequate visibility to all stakeholders. Risks and mitigation controls must be properly addressed and there should be transparent management of stakeholder relationships. Transparency in leadership is the key”.