Corporate governance concerns the manner in which corporations are regulated and managed. Corporations control a significant portion of the world's wealth and other resources. The dominance of the corporation as the central agent in the market economy is increasing. Corporate behaviour impacts on every individual – often in very profound and significant ways. A fundamental tension in the corporate governance debate is balancing the profit making objective of corporations and company officers against broader social responsibilities owed to the wider community. This tension has not been adequately resolved. Thus, corporate governance is a very complex and controversial area of the law.

This book sets out to demystify corporate governance regulation. It explains the rules and principles that regulate corporate behaviour in Australia and a number of other jurisdictions, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. As well as dealing with corporate governance regulation today, the book provides an extensive analysis of the wider moral and policy considerations underpinning corporate governance. It evaluates existing standards pertaining to corporate governance, makes proposals for change and suggests ways in which this area of law and practice can be made more coherent and principled. The book argues that corporate governance regulation and management is in need of fundamental reform and explains in detail the direction that these reforms should take.

The primary aim with Principles of Contemporary Corporate Governance is to extract and evaluate the core principles of this subject area.