Overview

It will be clear from Figure 3.10 in Chapter 3 that we consider regulation of corporate governance to be prominent in a good corporate governance model. This chapter builds upon that model by focusing on the regulation of corporate governance in particular. It deals specifically with the various mechanisms, legislative and non-legislative, which regulate the corporation and which set in place, collectively, a framework by which good governance can be achieved. Overall, this collective body of mechanisms forms part of what has recently been described as an emerging ‘law of corporate governance’.

The regulation of corporate governance in Australia is achieved through both binding and non-binding rules, international recommendations and industry specific standards, commentaries of scholars and practitioners and the decisions of judges. The legislature acts to facilitate the fulfillment of good corporate governance by refining the rules encompassing corporate law, and indirectly through the entire panoply of rules and regulations enacted, which have an impact on the corporation and its activities in a variety of ways.