Corporate governance

The recent wave of business scandals and ethical lapses have heightened public, press, and investor scrutiny of companies, creating demand for a corporate culture of integrity-driven performance and a new corporate transparency. Management and Boards now feel compelled to ensure that proper governance processes are in place to protect corporate reputation, brand image and shareholder value. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 8th Annual Global CEO Survey ( Dec 2004), 50% of retail industry CEOs believe there is a strong relationship among all elements of GRC ( governance, risk and compliance) and that effective governance can be a value driver and a benefit, versus a cost, to their companies.

Effective corporate governance requires management and Board involvement and accountability, embracing the processes, compliance and structure required to direct and manage the affairs of a corporation. Its overall goal is to ensure the financial viability of the enterprise and enhance shareholder value. For the retail and consumer industry, globalization, which entails multinational operations, various financial reporting systems, complex supply chains with wholesalers, distributors and multiple types of retailers, not to mention multiple brand portfolios and various types of outlets, provides significant rationale for management and Boards to develop an effective GRC program.

How PricewaterhouseCoopers can help you

PricewaterhouseCoopers offers a variety of services — tailored to the retail and consumer sector— to improve your company’s corporate governance, including:

Additionally, we have developed a compliance value model that calculates the current costs of maintaining a compliance program (direct plus indirect costs) and the potential cost of non-compliance (fines, lost customers, opportunity costs, etc).