Comparing corporate governance codes in Germany and Eastern Europe – An analysis of different corporate governance characteristics

Abstract

A series of accounting scandals and company failures led to a loss of trust by investors in an organization’s management, which triggered extensive debates regarding Corporate Governance. Eastern European countries require additional regulatory actions due to the privatization programs as a result of the transformation from the planned to market economy. The different corporate governance systems of the individual countries in terms of the monistic one-tier or the dualistic two-tier system resulted in distinctive contents of the corporate governance codes. Despite the differences, all codes have a common objective: to strengthen the confidence of investors through good corporate governance. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the similarities and differences of the Corporate Governance Codes (CGC) in various Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. To do so, the CGCs of Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Poland are illustrated and compared to the German Corporate Governance Code. On the basis of a broad theoretical model, the national characteristics of the CEE countries are linked to the respective code and the central components are evaluated in detail.