Publication Lessons from Enron

Executive Summary

This paper is the first in a series of short essays by CTC Director, Mark Goyder. In them he uses an inclusive perspective to illuminate some of the most keenly debated arguments about shareholder value, company reporting and governance. Over the next few years, CTC’s work in setting a new agenda for business will return to these themes as part of its ‘Inclusive Company’ programme of research and change. CTC will also focus on two other programmes ‘Business and Society; closing the gap’ and ‘Twenty-first Century Investment’.

During the spring and early summer of 2002, CTC Director, Mark Goyder was on several occasions asked to give his view on the changes needed in governance. This paper is a distillation of:

• The keynote address given by him at “Beyond Shareholder Value”; an international conference in Zurich, organised by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute
• A panel debate at the RSA he took part in along with Peter Wyman, Deputy President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales, and Colin Reeves Director of the Accountancy Foundation
• Mark Goyder’s opening address at a conference on corporate citizenship organised by Ethical Corporation Magazine.

This paper is also informed by CTC active involvement in debates about the future of corporate reporting, the duties of directors, the Myners report on the role of pension trustees and shareholder activism, the Sandler Report on medium and long-term retail savings.