Horwath Corporate Governance Report

The 2009 WHK Horwath Corporate Governance Report is the 7th annual independent assessment and ranking of the corporate governance structures and policies of Australia's largest 250 listed companies. The ranking is based on what is deemed to be national and international best practice in corporate governance. Consequently, the WHK-Horwath Report is predicated on the view that there is merit to national and international corporate governance best practice guidelines, including those of the ASX Corporate Governance Council. The point of the Report is to provide concrete evidence on Australian corporate governance practice by focusing on objective, publicly available and measurable aspects of good governance.

As has been the case with previous Reports, the main focus of the 2009 Report is to rank companies on their corporate governance. However, one additional theme examined in the 2009 Report relates to the disclosures that Australian companies make on their policies and practices on carbon emissions.

We hope that the Report provides a topical and important contribution to the corporate governance debate, and also provides an interesting and useful snapshot of the carbon emission disclosures of Australian companies. Finally, we thank WHK for providing financial support in the preparation of this Report, and providing a setting where we can take a completely independent stance in its preparation.

Jim Psaros and Michael Seamer
Faculty of Business and law
The University of Newcastle
July 2009

Media Coverage

Television

Sky Business Report
9pm interview with Jim Psaros: extensive WHK Horwath coverage

ABC Lateline Business
Interview with Jim Psaros and John Gavens: extensive WHK Horwath coverage

Newspapers

Australian Financial Review
Corporate governance levels deteriorate. Page 11 lead

The Australian
Big companies cut pay panels. Page 18, inside section lead