Common sense ideas to help corporations to think long-term

Andrew Schwartz and Andy Green write that poor corporate governance can metastasize, spreading problems beyond an individual firm to affect broader markets, the economy, and the public at large.

In the summer of 2015, a dozen executives from the largest corporations and investment management firms — who, combined, oversee trillions of dollars in assets — gathered not for a soiree in the Hamptons, but to discuss the future of corporate governance.

The participants, CEOs and chairmen from firms including GE GE, +0.50% , Berkshire Hathaway BRK.A, +1.06% , and JPMorgan Chase JPM, +1.14% , recently released recommendations to improve organizational control, direction, and oversight, ensuring public companies operate responsibly in a changing business world.

Specifically, they produced a set of “Commonsense Principles of Corporate Governance,” consisting of best practices for public reporting, corporate boards, shareholders, management, and asset managers.

Understandably, corporate governance may not rank highly on the list of many Americans’ everyday concerns, but it is a vital link to employment, capital formation, and overall economic growth. Without a sustained commitment to high-quality governance, corporations expose themselves to unnecessary risks.

The above excerpt was originally published in MarketWatch. Click here to view the full article.

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