Good corporate governance is a basicelement for healthy companies and a key to sustainableprivate sector development. Strong governance fundamentalscontribute to better management and more effective boards,leading to enhanced operational efficiency, reduced risk,improved decision making, and increased valuations, amongother business benefits. This publication represents aunique collaborative effort to assess the state of corporategovernance around the world in the wake of the 2008 globalfinancial crisis. It draws on the expertise of the IFCCorporate Governance Private Sector Advisory Group and otherpractitioners in this important field, providing afascinating and detailed accounting of the range of changesthat have taken place in the past few years as the corporategovernance agenda has been elevated. The report highlightsnotable improvements in board practices, controlenvironment, shareholder protection, and transparency anddisclosure. It also points to progress on more effectiveapplication, monitoring, and enforcement of corporategovernance codes. Importantly, the publication identifiesfuture directions where more work is needed, such asincreased commitment at the national level to prioritize thecorporate governance agenda. Specifically, Part A discussesdevelopments from global or regional groups involved incorporate governance. Part B addresses developments incorporate governance practice, and Part C looks atdevelopments in corporate governance codes and standards.