Corporate governance, as we all know, has been under a strong and critical public spotlight in recent years, in the wake of a succession of blows to market confidence and integrity, particularly in the United States but echoed in Australia and other countries as well. The community’s expectations of boards and senior management, and of those charged with providing an independent review of a company’s operations and financial accounts, have been raised. To meet those expectations, governments and regulatory authorities around the globe have mounted a concerted campaign to improve standards of corporate behaviour and transparency through the international harmonisation of accounting standards, strengthening the principles of corporate governance, lifting the bar on the “fitness and propriety” of directors and managers and introducing improved market disclosure standards.