Importing international corporate governance codes in Greek publicly listed enterprises

Abstract

PurposeThis study focuses on the evaluation of the introduction of international corporate governance codes such as Combined Code (UK) and King Report III (SA) in the Greek publicly listed enterprises. This research is based on a case study analysis of six publicly listed enterprises (three of them are traded in the high capitalization index and another three in the medium‐low capitalization index of the Athens Stock Exchange). The main purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of international corporate governance codes impact in the relevant local laws and regulations, as well as the adopted best practices.Design/methodology/approachQualitative research is carried out to address the research topic, using primary and secondary data. The primary source of this study is the professional experience of the author in the field of corporate governance within publicly listed enterprises, whereas secondary sources are the international corporate governance codes, Greek corporate governance laws, regulations and best practices, books, working papers and published articles.FindingsAlthough certain parts of international governance codes requirements have been applied by a number of Greek publicly listed enterprises, there is a long way to go to achieve best practice. The reason for this is the typical, however not substantial application of international governance codes requirements.Originality/valueResearch is proved to be very useful as it describes a gap analysis in the application of international governance codes in the areas of corporate governance, internal and external auditing, as well as the regulators therefore making it easier to identify potential areas for improvement.