Governance awareness lags in HK

The pace of awareness about corporate governance is slower in Hong Kong than other Asian markets, according to a survey.

Meanwhile, the mainland made the greatest strides in the past three years, the survey by the British-based Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) found.

It ranked Hong Kong as having the second-best corporate governance practices in Asia, behind Singapore and well ahead of Japan, Malaysia and China.

However, Hong Kong ranked last in terms of increasing awareness of corporate governance during the past three years. ACCA said this might be because Hong Kong already had relatively high standards.

In June, the ACCA surveyed 200 chief financial officers at leading firms in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur. It found 82 per cent of those in Shanghai had become much more aware of corporate governance over the past three years, compared with 50 per cent in Hong Kong, 60 per cent in Singapore and 54 per cent in Kuala Lumpur.

Among mainland firms 90 per cent said they had carried out formal reviews of corporate governance practices in the past year, compared with only about 50 per cent in Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

ACCA executive director Roger Adams did not consider the survey showed Hong Kong lagged China. 'Three years ago, Chinese [chief financial officers] might not have had any idea about corporate governance but they have had a great improvement in the past years.'