In this group, Sweden, France, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Germany and Austria stand out for their highest scores. The first group of countries has fully deserved to be at the top of the index with its corporate governance infrastructures and practices. The international financial community has embraced corporate governance as one of twelve core best practice standards. The World Bank is the evaluator of the application of the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance.
Its evaluations are part of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) program on Reporting on Compliance with Standards and Codes (ROSC). The analysis shows that most of the codes of the countries of the European Union do not fully conform to the priorities of the European Commission. This may reflect that the codes are driven by external and domestic forces. It is also investigated whether there is a difference between the countries of Western Europe and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in this regard, but no difference has been found, at least at the aggregate level of the codes of both groups of countries.
Most observers agree that the corporate governance environment has improved in recent years, as government has improved the legal and policy framework, and key institutions have grown in sophistication and maturity. Weak corporate governance frameworks reduce investor confidence and can discourage foreign investment. In addition, as pension funds continue to invest more in the stock markets, good corporate governance is crucial to preserving retirement savings. This positive trend is present in all regions, while some countries and sectors are leading the way and showing particularly impressive results.
In some countries, such as the United Kingdom and Malaysia, “management codes have been introduced, which aim to improve the quality of engagement between asset owners, asset managers and companies to help improve long-term risk-adjusted returns for shareholders. Studies have shown that good corporate governance practices have led to significant increases in the economic added value (EVA) of companies, higher productivity and a lower risk of systemic financial failure for countries. Corporate governance refers to the relationships between management, the board of directors, majority shareholders, minority shareholders and other stakeholders. Each ROSC Corporate Governance assessment evaluates a country's legal and regulatory framework, listed companies' practices and compliance, and enforcement capacity in relation to the OECD Principles.
Corporate governance refers to structures and processes for the management and control of companies. Corporate governance codes can foster private sector commitment to good corporate governance and aspirations towards higher standards. Originally, corporate governance codes were developed as a complement to laws and regulations in the area of corporate governance. For emerging market countries, improving corporate governance can serve several important public policy objectives.
Corporate governance scores reflect the CSR and governance practices that companies have in place, from shareholder rights to board structure. Corporate governance has been an important political issue in Russia since the beginning of its transition to a market economy.
