"Corporate governance is concerned with holding the balance between economic and social goals and between individual and communal goals... the aim is to align as nearly as possible the interests of individuals, corporations and society." - Sir Adrian Cadbury

Corporate governance goes beyond the conduct and responsibility of boards, directors and executive management, and advocates an integrated approach to good governance for a wide range of stakeholders with an interest in the fundamental principles of good financial, regulatory, social, ethical and environmental practice. Corporate governance integrates these with the issues of:

• risk management
• internal control
• value delivery
• integrated sustainability reporting
• compliance
• performance measurement.

The approach is for the board, directors and executive management to identify the organisation's stakeholders and to agree policies as to how the relationship with those stakeholders should be advanced and managed in the interests of the organisation.

"The key challenge for good corporate governance is to seek an appropriate balance between enterprise (performance) and constraints (conformance) which takes into account the expectations of stakeholders for reasonable capital growth/service provision and the responsibility concerning the interests of other stakeholders of the organisation" - Jim Wolfensohn, World Bank.

Corporate discipline is a commitment by an organisation's senior management to adhere to behaviour that is universally recognised and accepted correct and proper. This encompasses a organisation's awareness and commitment to the underlying principles of good governance, particularly at the senior management level.