All of this activity led the 1990s to be referred to by commentators, such as Charkham (2005). as ‘the decade of corporate governance'. Yet despite this concerted effort on the part of interested parties, from the stock exchanges to the accountancy profession, to improve systems and thus avoid further criticism, corporate scandals continued. The fall of Barings Bank in 1995 had sent further shock waves through the financial world, but it was the collapse of Enron and Worldcom in the USA that, again, led to calls for further attention. The once-dormant proposal of two US legislators became the most far-reach-ing (and hastily passed) piece of governance legislation--the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002. It was felt that that the role being played by non-executive directors was not robust enough in terms of ensuring good practice and governance. Additionally, further criticism was levelled at the accountancy profession for what appeared to be a continuing inability to uncover signals of underlying corporate distress or malfeasance. This led to a flurry of activity to try once again, to develop systems of governance that would be sufficient to prevent further scandals.