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General
Governance
Practices
2009 Trends in
Corporate Governance of the
Largest US Public Companies
Since we published our 2008 Annual Survey of Selected Corporate
Governance Practices of the Top 100 Companies a year ago,
there has been a flurry of regulatory, legislative and private
sector activity and interest both in the US and abroad directed
towards the corporate governance practices of public companies.
At least some of this interest and activity is intended to reduce
the likelihood of a recurrence of the unprecedented events that
occurred in the global and US financial markets and economies
during the past few years. In the US, these events ranged from
the US government's rescue of some of the world's largest
financial institutions, the collapse of firms like Bear Stearns and
Lehman Brothers, the US government's substantial ownership
of private companies, including General Motors, GMAC and
AIG, the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the
appointment of a special master for the Troubled Asset Relief
Program (TARP) executive compensation issues, to further
federalization of corporate governance requirements and practices.
Without question, the role of public company boards is again
under intense scrutiny, not only by shareholder activists and
institutional investors, but also by regulators, politicians, the
media, the securities exchanges, the judiciary, academia and
"Main Street," and likely will remain under scrutiny for the
foreseeable future.
