Corporate governance: directors, shareholders and the Audit Committee Available to Purchase

Discusses the different roles played by directors, shareholders and auditors in ensuring the success of a company. Outlines the responsibilities of the directors, pointing out the risks that directors may bully auditors; also that a persistently questioning director, especially a non‐executive director, will be labelled as a trouble maker and not be listened to. Argues that shareholders and auditors cannot be linked in a way that would effectively supervise the conduct of directors. Concludes that directors need to be properly monitored: shareholders have failed to do this, so the audit committee needs to ensure that directors do their duties. Shows how an effective audit committee can be set up.