Corporate accountability must be examined within the perspective of a company's business challenges. There is a synergy between shareholder value and the responsibilities of management. This book is based on an extensive research project done by the author in the 2001 to 2003 timeframe in the United States, England, Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. It includes a great deal of case studies in corporate accountability and governance, particularly among financial institutions. Significant attention is also paid to good governance of pension funds.

Dimitris N. Chorafas served on the faculty of the Catholic University of America and as Visiting Professor at Washington State University, George Washington University, University of Vermont, University of Florida, and Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, as well as the University of Alberta, Technical University of Karlsruhe, Ecole d'Etudes Industrielles de l'Université de Genève, Ecole Polytechnic Fédérale de Lausanne, Polish Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences. More than 8,000 banking, industrial and government executives participated in his seminars in the United States, England, Germany, Italy, other European countries, Asia and Latin America. Chorafas is the author of 160 books, translated into several languages world-wide.