Conference Board is launching a six-month project to identify corporate governance best practices and plans to produce a blueprint that boards and management can follow to improve their approaches and help restore investor confidence.
"The Enron effect is creating a major breach in the confidence investors have in corporate earnings and the ability of directors to uncover red flags or problems within the company, according to Carolyn Kay Brancato, director of the boards Global Corporate Governance Research Center. "This failure of investor confidence poses a significant threat, not only to companies with complex corporate accounting, but to the entire corporate sector.
Chubb Group of Insurance Cos., an insurer of directors and officers, and Pfizer Inc. are co-sponsoring the project.