Corporate Governance and Accountability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Corporate Governance and Accountability - Essay Example Hence, good governance is called for and indeed, demanded from the corporates. This part of the paper looks at the dimensions on which corporate governance can be analyzed by undertaking a literature review of the readings that have been assigned in different weeks of the course. The emphasis in this part is on a multidimensional and multi perspective look at some of the determinants of corporate governance. The aspect of executive or senior management compensation and its effect on corporate governance is one of the frequently cited determinants (Forbes & Watson, 1993, 335). In view of the ongoing global economic crisis that was caused partly due to the excessive risk taking of bankers and the role played by incentives (flawed, in hindsight) in causing such amoral behaviour. Given the gap between executive compensation and the compensation of the lowest paid worker in many corporations (to take an extreme case, the ratio is said to be 300:1), it is indeed the case that the system of incentives and executive compensation needs to be relooked at (Main et al, 1996, 1638). To take the examples of banks that failed like Lehmann Brothers and the very recent case of MF Global, where the structure of executive compensation and the misaligned incentives directly led to their downfall, it is apparent that the role played by executive compensation needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. In fact, even auto majors and other companies in sectors that were traditionally more egalitarian have fallen prey to the disease of excessive compensation for the top management (Conyon & Leech, 1994, 238). Added to this is the fact of additional benefits in terms of bonuses, privileges and other perks that have resulted in the compensation system being skewed further to the advantage of the senior management and leading to severe issues of governance and behaviour (Conyon & Peck, 1998, 153). Board directors in firms are