Corporate Governance: Paramount Insurance Company

2. Are the roles of the chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) exercised by different individuals? This clear division of responsibility would help to counterbalance the power and influence of the CEO in the decision making of the company’s directors. Furthermore, this would enhance the supporting role that may be assumed by the chairman in being the CEO’s confidante.

Farrar, J. (2008). Corporate Governance: theories, principles and practice. 2nd ed. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press

The board of Hastie have appeared to failed in all four key functions of the board (Tricker 2012, p174, Fig 7.1) being Strategy Formulation, Policymaking, Monitoring & Supervision and Accountability which could reasonably be judged that the Hastie Board of Directors had operated outside of 7 of the 8 principles (the only Principle seemingly being observed was ‘Principle 8 – Remunerate fairly and responsibly) (ASX 2010, p40) described so the review will focus on Principles 3 and 4.

The article is written to help readers gain a solid understanding the roles of corporate governance, both inside and outside the company. Its goal is simply to impart information, not make claims or arguments on its own. I will be judging it mainly on the sources gathered, numerous examples and explanations given and the overall effectiveness it possesses in effectively communicating its ideas.

Another central feature of the board of directors is the question of whether the CEO is also the chairman of the board. When the CEO is also the chairman this is often referred to as “CEO duality”. In the US the CEO is often the chairman of the board. Studies have shown that the board in most cases

Coyle (2014) notes that the composition of the Board of Directors is dependent on the size of the company. The board is normally composed of a chairman, the Chief Executive Officer, a Senior Independent Director, executive directors and non-executive directors (NEDs).

The Board of the Company consists of 11 (eleven) Independent Directors and 2 (two) Inside Directors. They have expertise in the areas of business, finance, law, audit and public companies.

Corporate governance refers to ‘the ways suppliers of finance to corporations assure themselves of getting return on their investment’ (Shleifer and Vishny, 1997: 736). Corporate governance discusses the set of systems, principles and processes by which a

Corporate governance is a set of actions used to handle the relationship between stakeholders by determining and controlling the strategic direction and performance of the organization. Corporate governance major concern is making sure that the strategic decisions are effective and that it paves the way towards strategic competitiveness. (Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, 2017, p. 310). In today’s corporation, the primary objective of corporate governance is to align top-level manager’s and stakeholders interest. That is why corporate governance is involved when there is a conflict of interest between with the owners, managers, and members of the board of directors (Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, 2017, p. 310-311).

Corporate governance in itself has no single definition but common principles which it should follow. For example in 1994 the most agreed term for corporate governance was “the process of supervision and control intended to ensure that the company’s management acts in accordance with the interest of shareholders” (Parkinson, 1994)1. Corporate governance code is not a direct set of rules but a self-regulated framework which businesses choose to follow. This code has continued to change in the past 20 years in accordance with what is happening in the business world. For example the Enron scandal caused reform in corporate governance with the Higgs Report which corrected the issues which were necessary. Although it does not quickly fix problems, it gives a better framework to

Corporate governance is founded on laws, policies, processes, systems and behaviours and together they provide a system for the way in which an organisation is directed, administered and controlled. As such, the Charity Commission, (the ‘Commission’) recognises that to deliver its strategic aims, objectives and priorities successfully, it needs sound corporate governance arrangements in place, (Charity Commission UK). Corporate Governance is not - or should not be - about debate and discussion on executive compensation, shareholder protection, legislation and so on. In recent times, corporate governance became not only a subject of fierce debate and public outcry, but also, as a result of this and arising legislation, a subject which been wearisome for many company directors. The hidden gem here is to a great

In principle, as retrieved from Wikipedia, “an Independent director, is a director of a board of

The corporate governance debate has been a global phenomenon, attributed to the increasing deregulation of worldwide capital markets and the expansion of the shareholder class . Such changes have increased awareness of the importance of corporate governance practices,

This was a very interesting article, in my opinion it brings to mind the derived phrase, which came first the chicken or the egg. Meaning, is corporate governance an attempt to control the results of unethical practices of corporations or is it meant to deter them. In reading this article, it is clear that certain corporations practiced unethical business behaviors for self-interest, but the questions this author have are: 1. Should corporate governance be regulated by the legislature as well as the organization and to what degree, 2. Is corporate governance, there to protect the shareholder or the stakeholder, 3. How effective is corporate governance on a global level. The need for a governance system is based on the assumption that the separation between the owners of a company and its management provides self-interest executives the opportunity to take actions that benefit themselves, with the cost of these actions borne by the owners (Larcker & Tayan, 2008).

Corporate governance includes all the rules, regulations, procedures and practices that guide a company in achieving their objective. Corporate Governance(CG) creates a support platform for a company’s stakeholders; the owners, the board, employees, the community and the regulators. Corporate governance policies are instituted to protect the interest of stakeholders through monitoring and controlling all management practices. Questions arise regarding the need to regulate corporate governance; if it is widely believed that good corporate governance leads to better financial performance, then firms would not need to be reminded to adopt these practices, however various recent company failures have revealed that good corporate governance practices are still lacking in many firms. The global financial crisis coupled with the fall of Enron, WorldCom and more recently the Volkswagen AG scandal in 2015 has led to high investor and society expectations regarding CG of companies.