Theory and Practice of Corporate Governance

Stephen Bloomfield leads the Corporate Governance Unit at Anglia Ruskin University. He is a Visiting Fellow in Corporate Governance at Kingston University and London South Bank University and prior to his academic career, he was a stockbroking analyst and then a director of a major venture capital fund. He has been a director of numerous venture capital funded companies and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.

• Part I. The Discipline of Governance: 1. The landscape and definitions of governance: the major actors; 2. Inward-facing governance; 3. Outward-facing governance; Part II. The Relationship Between Law and Governance: 4. The protection of the laws; 5. Critical governance law; Part III. Governance and the Listed Company: 6. The development of governance - the Governance Codes; 7. The 2007–8 financial crises: the failure of systemic governance; 8. Systemic governance: the Turner Review, the Walker Review and the Vickers Commission; Part IV. Governance and Regulation: 9. The company and the stock market; 10. Non-shareholder regulation of companies; 11. Changes in regulatory structures - the PRA, the FCA and the ICB recommendations; 12. Failure - the abiding characteristic of regulation; 13. Accounting for profits: the root of information asymmetry; 14. Reward and performance; Part VI. Counter-Governance: Failures of Governance and Corporate Failure: 15. Counter-governance (1): theory; 16. Counter-governance (2): abuse of stakeholders; 17. Concluding remarks; Bibliography; Index.

'This critical and thought-provoking analysis of the theory and practice of corporate governance should be required reading for every board director, regulator, MBA student, as well as professionals. Indeed, it should perhaps be read by everyone who has an interest in why our current governance system seems, to many people, no longer fit for purpose and, as the author suggests, in need of a total rethink.' Nick Gould, Collyer Bristow LLP