• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

CG syndrome

D. Murali

LIKE the proverbial flu or malaria, the ``corporate governance syndrome'' is fast catching up with everybody, if you are to believe the August edit of the CA journal. But syndrome is a group of concurrent symptoms of a disease, going by the Concise Oxfor d Dictionary.

Where did the disease start? Not from the West, though India may be ``a follower in the import of corporate governance, its terminology and interpretations.''

``True corporate governance started in the land of the Ganga and Cauvery,'' the ICAI enlightens us. ``Transparency and accountability, from the period of Ramayana to the days of Emperor Ashoka, are the foundation of the concept of corporate governance.'' This can set off an IPR dispute, as to the real father of CG, if we may abbreviate the issue.

It is only the misguided who blame those who get advantages from a flourishing company. ``The corporate tree needs to be strong, healthy and spreading,'' the Institute assures us. ``Its fruit must be available to all partners in its progress -- sharehold ers, lenders, government, employees and society (in that order?).'' Go, pluck, everybody!

``The right to timely and meaningful information information are of paramount importance to all stakeholders,'' informs the ICAI.

Interestingly and contrary to what many may think, ``CG was the outcome of corporate delinquency caused by unscrupulous management whose accounts held back more than they disclosed.'' So, to have CG, you know what you must be doing first.

``When the ASB was formed in the 1970s, corporate eyebrows went up, questioning the need for such a body,'' the edit reminisces. But eyebrows still go up -- after three decades -- looking at the lack of efficacy of the AS brought out by the ICAI. ``Unfor tunately, many of ICAI's suggestions have not found favour with the powers that be,'' it laments in excuse.

``In this liberalised scenario, it is high time the government left matters concerning the profession to professional institutes,'' pleads the ICAI. Otherwise, there would be more bla bla.