Corporate Governance And Directors’ Remuneration In Selected ASEAN Countries

Abstract

This paper briefly discusses the corporate governance and directors’ remuneration as being practiced by five different ASEAN countries i.e. Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand. Governance is about how an entity is being directed and controlled, while corporate governance is about a system, procedure or mechanism of balancing between directing and controlling business entities’ internal matters and the demand of their external shareholders and stakeholders. The paper summarizes the development of corporate governance and directors’ remuneration in these countries. An attempt has also been made to highlight issues regarding the need of disclosure of individual director’s remuneration, the need of shareholders’ approval on directors’ remuneration, the need of shareholders’ approval on stock based incentive plan, approval of directors’ remuneration by a committee at board level, the separation of role of the Chairmen of Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officers, and the recommended maximum length of period offered to directors. It later focuses on the progress made by these countries in further uplifting their corporate governance practices. The paper also examines some arising pertinent and puts forth some recommendations on how the future direction of the development of corporate governance in ASEAN countries with respect to directors’ remuneration shall take shape.