Abstract
Corporate governance is a new and rapidly changing field in transition economies. Companies must have good corporate governance to attract foreign investment but many Russian firms have governance practices that leave much to be desired. Until a few years ago, transparency was practically unknown and even now many enterprises hide important financial information rather than report it. Minority shareholders often had little or no rights and the value of their investments evaporated as top management plundered the corporation and transferred assets to shell corporations they controlled.
After the Russian default in 1998 several private organizations were formed to protect minority shareholders and to pressure Russian corporations to adopt good corporate governance practices such as electing independent directors, forming an audit committee as part of the board of directors and adopting and implementing international financial reporting standards. This paper reports on their efforts and discusses how far along Russian corporations are on the road to good corporate governance practices. Some of the information in this paper was gathered from interviews conducted in Moscow and St. Petersburg during the summer of 2003.
An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the International Academy of Business and Public Administration Disciplines (IABPAD), Annual Conference, New Orleans, January 23–25, 2004.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anonymous. 2001a. Minority What? Economist, 358(8210), 72 (February 24).
Anonymous. (December 2000/January 2001). S&P Devises Scoring System for Corporate Governance Risk. Central European 10(10), 20–21.
Black, B. 2001. Does Corporate Governance Matter? A Crude Test Using Russian Data, University of Pennsylvania Law Review 149(6), 2131–2150 (June).
British Accounting Association Corporate Governance Special Interest Group website http://www.baacgsig.qub.ac.uk/
Buck, T. 2003. Modern Russian Corporate Governance: Convergent Forces or Product of Russia’s History? Journal of World Business, 38(4), 299–313.
Cadbury, A., et al. 1992. (The Cadbury Report) Report of the Committee on Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance (December 1), London: Gee Publishing Ltd... Available at http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/privatesector/cg/docs/cadbury.pdf.
Corporate Monitoring http://www.corpmon.com/
Davis Global Advisors. Leading Corporate Governance Indicators, Newton, MA: Davis Global Advisors. Annual publication. http://www.davisglobal.com/publications/lcgi/index.html
Encyclopedia of Corporate Governance http://www.encycogov.com/
European Corporate Governance Institute website http://www.ecgi.org/
European Corporate Governance Institute link to Codes http://www.ecgi.org/codes/all_codes.htm
Feinberg, P. 2000. Historically Indifferent Russia Starts to Heed Corporate Governance Rules, Pensions & Investments, 28(23), 18–19 (November 13).
Filatotchev, I., Buck, T. and Zhukov, V. 2000. Downsizing in Privatized Firms in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Academy of Management Journal, 43(3), 286–304.
Filatotchev, I., Wright, M., Uhlenbruck, K., Tihanyi, L., and Hoskisson, R. 2003. Governance, Organizational Capabilities, and Restructuring in Transition Economies. Journal of World Business, 38(4), 331–347.
Global Corporate Governance Forum http://www.gcgf.org/
Greenbury, R. et al. 1995. (Greenbury Report). Directors’ Remuneration: Report of a Study Group Chaired by Sir Richard Greenbury, (July 17), London: Gee Publishing Ltd. Available at http://www.baacgsig.qub.ac.uk/
Haigh, A. 2001. We View Russia’s Future with Optimism. Kommersant-Daily (January 26) [www.pwcglobal.ru/].
Hampel Committee. 1998. Hampel Committee Report, (January), London: Gee Publishing Ltd. Available at http://www.ecgi.org/codes/country_documents/uk/hampel_index.htm
Independent Directors Association website www.independentdirector.ru
Independent Directors Association. 2003. Independent Director Code (April 15 Draft), Moscow: Independent Directors Association. Available at www.independentdirector.ru.
Institute of Corporate Law and Corporate Governance website www.iclg.ru
Institute of Corporate Law and Corporate Governance. 2002. Managing Corporate Governance Risks in Russia (May), Moscow: Institute of Corporate Law and Corporate Governance.
International Corporate Governance Network website http://www.icgn.org/
International Finance Corporation, Russia Corporate Governance Project website http://www2.ifc.org/rcgp/english.htm
Iskyan, K. 2002. Clean-up Time in Russia, Global Finance 32–35 (February).
Judge, W.Q., Naoumova, I. & Kutzevol, N. 2003. Corporate Governance in Russia: An Empirical Study of Russian Managers’ Perception. Paper presented at the Gorbachev Foundation Conference on Corporate Governance in Transition Economies held at Northeastern University, Boston, April 2003. Published in Journal of World Business, 38 (4), 385–396 (November 2003) under the title Corporate Governance and Firm Performance in Russia: An Empirical Study.
McCarthy, D.J. and Puffer, S.M. 2003. Corporate Governance in Russia: A Framework for Analysis. Journal of World Business, 38(4), 397–415.
McCarthy, D.J. and Puffer, S.M. 2002. Corporate Governance in Russia: Towards a European, US, or Russian Model? European Management Journal, 20(6), 630–641.
Metzger, B., Dean, R.N. and Bloom, D. 2002. Russia’s Code of Corporate Conduct: An Innovative Approach to Solving Shareholder Rights Abuses, The Corporate Governance Advisor10 (2), 12–17 (March/April).
Miller, S. 2002. Law and Order Makes its Mark, Banker 152(913), 44–45 (March).
Monks, R. A.G. & Minow, N. (Eds) 2004. Corporate Governance, third edition, London: Blackwell Publishers.
Muravyev, A. 2001. Turnover of Top Executives in Russian Companies. Russian Economic Trends, 10(1), 20–24.
National Association of Corporate Directors website http://www.nacdonline.org/
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development website http://www.oecd.org/document/62/0,2340,en_2649_37439_1912830_1_1_1_37439,00.html
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. 2003. White Paper on Corporate Governance in South Eastern Europe, Paris: OECD. www.oecd.org.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. 2003. Survey of Corporate Governance Developments in OECD Countries, Paris: OECD.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. 2002. White Paper on Corporate Governance in Russia, (April 15), Paris: OECD. Available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/10/3/2789982.pdf.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. 1999. Principles of Corporate Governance, Paris: OECD. Available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/47/50/4347646.pdf.
Peng, M., Buck, T. and Filatotchev, I. 2003. Do Outside Directors and New Managers Help Improve Firm Performance? An Exploratory Study in Russian Privatization. Journal of World Business, 38(4), 348–360.
Pistor, K., Raiser, M. and Gelfer, S. 2000. Law and Finance in Transition Economies, Economics of Transition 8(2), 325–368.
Puffer, S.M. and McCarthy, D.J. 2003. The Emergence of Corporate Governance in Russia. Journal of World Business, 38(4), 284–298.
Robertson, C.J., Gilley, K.M., and Street, M.D. 2003. The Relationship between Ethics and Firm Practices in Russia and the United States. Journal of World Business, 38(4), 375–384.
Roth, K. and Kostova, T. 2003. Organizational Coping with Institutional Upheaval in Transition Economies. Journal of World Business, 38(4), 314–330.
Russian Corporate Governance Roundtable website http://www.corp-gov.org/
Russian Institute of Directors website www.rid.ru
Russian Institute of Directors. 2003. Structure and Activities of Boards of Directors of Russian Joint-Stock Companies. Moscow: Russian Institute of Directors. www.rid.ru
Russian Institute of Directors. 2002. Corporate Governance Code (April 5), Moscow: Russian Institute of Directors, www.rid.ru.
Wagner, J., Stimpert, J., & Fubara, E. 1998. Board Composition and Organizational Performance: Two Studies of Insider/Outsider Effects. Journal of Management Studies, 35(5), 655–677.
World Bank Corporate Governance website http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/privatesector/cg/
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
(2005). Recent Developments in Corporate Governance. In: Accounting and Financial System Reform in a Transition Economy: A Case Study of Russia. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-23887-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-23887-5_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-23847-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-23887-6
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)