At first sight, the IMF's good governance agenda appears to be a politically progressive addition to Fund policy. However, drawing on the experience of the Asian financial crisis, this article argues that governance is too politically complex and significant to fit comfortably with the Fund's existing mandate. The Fund's governance agenda embodies an uneasy compromise between economics and more democratic values. The continuing dominance of financial interests in defining what the Fund means by governance presents the risk that policies portrayed as politically progressive in fact impose restrictions on legitimate instruments of development policy. Before we welcome Fund involvement in governance issues, we should press for greater Fund accountability.