The Business Roundtable is recognized as an authoritative
voice on matters affecting American business corporations and,
as such, has a keen interest in corporate governance. The
Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive
officers of leading corporations with a combined workforce of
more than 10 million employees in the United States and $3.5
trillion in revenues. The chief executives are committed to
advocating public policies that foster vigorous economic
growth, a dynamic global economy, and a well-trained and
productive U.S. workforce essential for future competitiveness.
Past publications of The Business Roundtable that have
addressed corporate governance include our Statement on
Corporate Governance (September 1997); Executive
Compensation/Share Ownership (March 1992); Corporate
Governance and American Competitiveness (March 1990);
Statement on Corporate Responsibility (October 1981); and
The Role and Composition of the Board of Directors of the
Large Publicly Owned Corporation (January 1978). We are
pleased to note that, in the five years since our 1997 Statement
was published, many of the practices we suggested at that time
have become common.
The United States has the best corporate governance, financial
reporting, and securities markets systems in the world. These
systems work because of the adoption of best practices by
public companies within a framework of laws and regulations.
While there have been exceptions to the overall record of
success, generally the systems have worked very well.