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PROGRAM >> Workshops
>> Stream
1 |
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The war against corruption is global
in scale and is being fought on many fronts. The
premise of this stream is that companies' part
in waging this war - basically their compliance
efforts, internal management systems and their
activities in business associations - are as important
to its successful prosecution as government legislative
and law enforcement activity. This stream will
seek to shed light on:
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How
companies define corruption |
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What
they do internally to fight against it |
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How they act together via business associations
(e.g. on sectoral corruption issues.) |
The role of external standards - such as the OECD
Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and
private ratings on corporate governance - in helping
to define corrupt practices and in establishing
norms for management practices in the fight against
corruption are also examined. Finally, government
actions that help or hinder these private efforts
are also examined.
The final output will be a synthesis document
summarizing the key findings of the workshops
and identifying future priorities for the business
sector in enhancing its contribution to winning
the war against bribery. It will also provide
guidance for governments on how they can assist
their business sectors in this endeavor. This
document could perhaps be called to the attention
of the GF III.
WS1.1 Defining
the problem: Lessons from recent corporate governance
failures
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25 May
Sunday 14:30-17:00 |
 Chair
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John
Bray |
Control Risks, Uk |
| Rapporteur
: |
Stian
Christensen |
TI-Secretariat |
| Panelists
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Hyung
Koo Moon
John Fitzgerald
Ron Berenbeim
Mark Latham
Marie Bohata
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Seoul National University
Government Accountability Project, USA
The Conference Board, USA
The Corporate Monitoring Project, USA
Institute for Governance and Leadership,
Czech
Republic |
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The purpose
of this workshop is to ‘define the problem’
or to set the stage for the more focused
workshops that follow. These issues deal
with corporate governance, business principles,
accountant accountability, voluntary standards
vs regulation, and the role of lawyers.
To provide the basis for the subsequent
workshops in this stream, this workshop
will focus on the underlying theme of power
and influence. How much power and influence
do companies really have? Is the premise
of this stream really justified? What are
the limitations of whatever power they have?
How can it best be exercised?
Topics:
1. Who has power within organisations
and how do they exercise it?
2. Working with partners ? both within
the commercial world and beyond it?
3. Companies and governments ? what scope
is there for constructive engagement?
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WS1.2 Corporate
governance and the fight against corruption -
emerging practices - 1
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26
May Monday 11:00-13:00 / 26 May Monday 14:30-17:00 |
| Coordinator
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John
Sullivan |
Center for International
Private Enterprise, USA |
| Chair
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Marie
Bohata |
Institute for Governance and Leadership,
Czech
Republic |
| Rapporteur
: |
Stan
Cutzach |
TI-Secretariat |
| Panelists
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Young
Jae Lim
Sung
Wok Joh
Charles Adwan
Stuart Gilman |
Korean Development
Institute, Corporate Affairs Division
Korea University, College of Business Administration
Lebanese Transparency Association
Ethics Resource Center, USA |
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Financial
crises in Mexico, Asia, Russia, and U.S.
corporations have drawn global attention
to the need to curb corruption through corporate
governance. Much attention has been focused
on the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance,
the creation of independent audit committees,
the appointment of independent directors,
the separation of the positions of chairman
of the board and chief executive officer,
and the type of legal system (civil as opposed
to common law). Although important, resolving
these issues will not go very far in instituting
corporate governance and rooting out corruption
in most regions of the world. This is because
most developing, emerging, and transitional
economies lack the necessary institutions
that will make these reforms meaningful
and minimize opportunities for corruption.
Topics:
1. The types of reforms necessary to institute
corporate governance in developing, emerging
and transitional economies
2. How private sector and civil society
groups can design and implement corporate
governance reforms
3. How these projects can effectively
reduce corruption and business costs
4. How and why even former cronies, oligarchs,
and grupos are jumping on the corporate
governance bandwagon
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WS1.3 International voluntary standards and pressures:
agents for change or a waste of time?
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26
May Monday 11:00-13:00 / 26 May Monday 14:30-17:00 |
| Chair
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Roy
Jones |
Trade Union Advisory Council, France |
| Rapporteur
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Ron
Berenbeim |
The Conference Board
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| Panelists
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Jermyn
Brooks
Kathryn
Gordon
Anil Chopra |
TI-Secretariat
OECD 
Tata Industries, India
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Written
law and formal law enforcement are essential
components of effective systems for combating
corruption in all its forms. However, their
importance should not be exaggerated --
they are part of a larger system. This workshop
will explore how international standards
and pressures help to reinforce two other
components of this system -- values and
expertise. If many people genuinely subscribe
to the values underpinning anti-corruption
rules, then this will promote “voluntary
compliance” -- a conviction-based, highly
diffuse form of compliance that complements
more formal enforcement. The task of disseminating
anti-corruption values (across countries,
sectors and company sizes) is an ongoing
one and international standards and pressures
can help. Business expertise in deploying
the various internal management tools and
external services (audit, rating systems)
is also an important element in the fight
against corruption. The accumulation of
expertise entails costs and management expertise
is subject to innovation. International
anti-corruption initiatives can help reduce
the economic cost of acquiring expertise
and can spread innovations more quickly.
Understanding the contributions that international
standards can make will also help us to
understand their limitations -- what it
is reasonable to expect of them and, by
implication, what cannot be expected (e.g.
not a substitute for appropriate public
policy).
Topics:
1. Standards of conduct in the anti-corruption
area
2. External services -- strengths and
weaknesses
3. Internal management systems in the
fight against corruption
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WS 1.4 Accountant accountability: who audits the
auditors?
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27 May
Tuesday 11:00-13:00 |
| Chair
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Marinilka
Kimbro |
Hong Kong Polytechnic University |
| Rapporteur
: |
John
Bray |
Control Risks |
| Panelists
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Jeremy
Brooks
Mark Latham
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TI-Secretariat
The Corporate Monitoring Project, USA |
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Recent financial scandals have created an
enormous public and political uproar throughout
the world. The auditing profession has been
blamed, and reputable global firms like
Arthur Andersen have been decimated. The
world is demanding an explanation, and the
auditing profession is now on the defensive.
Are the auditors to blame? Is there a problem
with the auditor’s role? Are auditors truly
independent? Can auditors certify that Financial
Statements are accurate? How can we restore
investors’ confidence?
Topics:
1. The accountant’s role in fighting corruption:
What is the role of the auditor?
| 2. |
Conflicts of interest
and auditor independence: Should audit
firms provide non-auditing services?
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| 3. |
Liability and disciplinary
issues: Are regulatory bodies doing
enough? Should accountants be liable? |
4. The role of the CFO and CEO? Are they
responsible for the accuracy of financial
statements?
5. Sarbanes-Oxley: Knee-jerk reaction or
appropriate solution? |
WS 1.5 Corporate governance and the fight against
corruption - emerging practices -2
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27 May
Tuesday 14:30-17:00 |
| Chair
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Jermyn
Brooks |
TI-Secretariat |
| Rapporteur
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Susan
Cote-Freeman |
TI-UK |
| Panelists
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Ronald
Berenbeim
David Murray
Michael Wiehen
Corene Crossin |
The Conference Board,
USA
TI-UK
TI-Germany
Global Witness, UK
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A number of initiatives are now under way
to address the issue of corruption in the
private sector. They range from generic
codes aimed at providing a framework for
corporate anti-corruption policies and practices
to industry-specific initiatives in sectors
as diverse as oil and gas, banking and defence.
In light of these initiatives the workshop
will attempt to answer the following questions:
- What is presently being done within the
private sector itself to reduce levels of
corruption?
- How can one achieve synergies among such
initiatives?
- How useful are they?
- In light of scarce resources should one
prioritise in terms of where to put focus?
Topics:
1. The TI/SAI business principles for countering
bribery
2. The Caspian Revenue Watch (CRW)
| 3. |
Transparency in corporate
payments to governments: The Publish
What You Pay Campaign (PWYP) and the
Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative(EITI) |
4. Developing sector-specific codes of conduct
5. Corruption in the official arms trade
6. The Wolfsberg Principles
7. Integrity Pacts
8. Dealing with Agents and Intermediaries:
The TRACE standard |
WS 1.6 Role of Lawyers in corporate governance
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28 May
Wednesday 09:00-11:30 |
| Chair
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Jeremy |
Clifford Chance, UK |
| Panelists
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Jeremy
Carver
Young Moo Shin
Robert Leranthal |
Clifford Chance,
UK
Shin and Kim, South Korea
American Bar Association |
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