Accountability Now

By Richard Vuylsteke

The late Walter Lippmann, for decades one of the most respected American journalists and political commentators, once wrote that "enduring governments must be accountable to someone besides themselves; a government responsible only to its own conscience is not for long tolerable." The same thing is true of enduring corporations, one reason that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and its recent modifications by the U.S. Congress have sought to strengthen oversight of corporate leadership and business processes.

In Taiwan, politicians stand for elections and corporate executives host shareholder general meetings. But neither periodic exercise has shed as much light on the need for greater accountability from public and private-sector leaders as the numerous recent high-profile indictments for misuse of government funds and for illegal corporate activities such as insider trading. Politicians and corporate managers (and their boards) are increasingly being called to account by the law and being made answerable for their actions. The catalyst has been a series of probes undertaken by aggressive public prosecutors (similar to district attorneys in the United States).

By Jane Rickards

• MACROECONOMICS
  CONSUMER DEMAND UP, BUT BY HOW MUCH?
  
  CROSS-STRAIT RELATIONS
  TAIWAN PROTESTS PRC MILTARY SPENDING
  VOLCANIC ISLAND THE NEW HONG KONG?
  
  DOMESTIC NEWS
  CHIANG STATUTE DISMEMBERED, KMT DISGUSTED
  MA PLEADS NOT GUILTY
  
  INTERNATIONAL
  FORMER MAC CHIEF NAMED U.S. ENVOY
  SEX SLAVE DENIAL PROMPTS OUTRAGE
  
  BUSINESS
  GOVERNMENT MAPS OUT PLANS TO EASE AVIATION INVESTMENT LAWS
  MEDIATEK TO BUY STAKE IN NUCORE
  BENQ'S WOES FAR FROM being OVER
  CLA MULLING MINIMUM WAGE HIKE

1) Oops, I went traveling and forgot to take my gas bill! - By Jane Rickards
2) A Taiwan Version of USTR - By Don Shapiro

History was made last autumn when Standard Chartered Bank announced it would became the first foreign financial institution to take over a local bank. About five months later, Citigroup followed suit with its own acquisition. These landmark deals should not only help spur the badly needed process of bank consolidation, but will also bring global best practices and standards to the local banking sector, helping to raise its competitiveness.

BY DON SHAPIRO