Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public ... - Blogs Unpad

expressed, especially in the United States,
about the standards of corporate governance
(Pike and Neale, 1993). Arguing that it is generally
expected of directors of listed enterprises,
in terms of UK company law, Pike and
Neale (1993) say that listed enterprise directors
are obliged to act in the best interest of
shareholders and they point out that there
have been many instances of listed enterprise
boardroom behaviour that has been difficult
to reconcile with this ideal, and they cite listed
enterprise collapses (British and Commonwealth
Holdings, Polly Peck, Maxwell Communications
Corporation) ‘often as a result of
excessive debt financing in order to finance ill
advised takeovers and fraud’. Other standards
issues of concern include listed enterprise
direction remuneration (Pike and Neale,
1993). In 1992 the UK Financial Reporting
Council, the UK Stock Exchange and the UK
accountancy profession established the Committee
on the Financial Aspects of Corporate
Governance with the brief to examine, and
make recommendations on the role of directors,
executives and non-executives and auditors.
Ten key recommendations were made
and although widely regarded as ‘steps in the
right direction’ these ‘changes’ in the rules
and responsibilities of directors and auditors
were non-statutory (Pike and Neale, 1993).
This was 1992.
The year 2002 witnessed major upheaval
in the United States with the Enron and the
WorldCom scandals. Throughout the United
States there was major concern in corporate
and financial sectors during the early years of
the 1990’s as to the value of business information
and the confidence people had in this
information. A great deal was right with the
current state of reporting in the United States,
according to the latest report, The Jenkins
Report (1994), commissioned by the
American Institute of Certified Accountants
(AICA), and this US report focused on particular
areas open to criticism, and where feasible
solutions could be developed and
implemented. In Europe, and the UK particularly,
a similar report was commissioned by
the Institute of Chartered Accountants of
Scotland, ICAS, (1999). This Scottish report
discussed the results of their investigation into
the needs and requirements of expert users
regarding corporate information in the United
Kingdom (Westman and Beattie, 1999). By
focussing on original empirical research work
into current practices of business information
users, including institutional investors, bank
leaders and broker analysts, the ICAS Research
Committee set out a blueprint for future
reporting practices of linked companies
(quoted enterprises). From the analysis of the
decision making process, the ICAS Research
Committee identified for attention the following
(a) the cycle of communication, (b) the
importance of maintaining confidence, (c) the
ability of expert users to explore and sift data,
(d) their selective use of key measures, and (e)
the importance they attach to information
about change (ICAS Research Committee,
1999).
Relevance of CorpCom in
management
This focuses on business reporting and clearly
demonstrates the relevance to the management
functions of corporate communication.
Existing literature defines corporate communication
in the context of listed (quoted) enterprises
and places it as a senior management
function, primarily with ultimate responsibility
being accepted at CEO level (Oliver, Diets,
Van Riel, Dolphin).
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors