Good corporate governance helps to prevent corporate scandals, fraud, and potential civil and criminal liability
from affecting your organization. With the increased scrutiny and attention to corporate governance matters in
today's environment, every employee in an organization has a stake in the governance process, especially those
responsible for auditing policies and procedures. Corporate Governance Best Practices is an easy-to-use handbook
that outlines best practices for not only public companies but also for private and not-for-profit organizations.
Author and renowned corporate governance expert Frederick Lipman provides a comprehensive guide to the best practices
for all organizations, with pragmatic insights and proactive strategies to educate them in all aspects of corporate
governance. Every chapter includes case studies profiling examples of best practices in all kinds of companies�public,
not-for-profit, and private�and analyzes the historic mistakes made by companies such as Enron and WorldCom to
explore where these once successful companies went wrong. L. Keith Lipman, an expert on information technology,
provides the IT department of every organization with best corporate governance practices in the areas of IT content
and security, and a checklist of questions for every board of directors to ask its IT department.
Useful for boards of directors, high-level executives, IT professionals, and both internal and independent auditors,
this valuable reference handbook is the only book in the area of corporate governance that provides a detailed
analysis of this critical area with essential information on:
How to monitor and change the corporate culture
The responsibilities of public company audit committees
The best practices for boards of not-for-profit organizations
Corporate governance practices for family-owned businesses
Corporate Governance Best Practices provides a wealth of resources, including the NASDAQ and NYSE stock market
corporate governance guidelines, auditor independence rules, a summary of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, disclosure
rules for audit committees, and much more.
Table of Contents
PART I. BEST PRACTICES FOR ALL ORGANIZATIONS.
1. Why Is Corporate Governance Important?
2. Summary of Major Corporate Governance Principles and Best Practices.
3. Best Practices to Monitor Risk in Different Organizational Departments.
4. Monitoring and Changing the Corporate Culture.
5. The Internal Audit Function.
6. Compensation Committees of Public, Private, and Not-for-Profit Organizations.
7. Other Committees.
8. Independent Directors and Their Committees.
PART II. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CORPORATE GOVERNANCE.
9. IT Content. Best Corporate Governance Practices.
10. IT Security Best Corporate Governance Practices.
PART III. THE PUBLIC COMPANY AUDIT COMMITTEE.
11. Who Can Qualify for a Public Company Audit Committee?
12. Public Company Audit Committee. Personal Liability of Audit Committee Members.
13. Minimum Responsibilities of Public Company Audit Committees.
14. Other Public Company Audit Committee Functions.
15. 30 Best Practice Considerations for the Public Company Audit Committee.
16. Who Is an Independent Auditor?
PART IV. PRIVATE AND NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.
17. Corporate Governance for Family-Owned and Other Private Businesses.
18. Corporate Governance for Not-for-Profit Organizations.
PART V. APPENDIXES.
A. Summary of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
B. Risk Assessment Chart under Auditing Standard No. 2.
C. �Uncooking the Books. How Three Unlikely Sleuths Discovered Fraud at WorldCom.�
D. Suggested Corporate Governance Web Site Resources.
