Satyam fraud to see CEOs huddle on corporate governance

Close to 100 CEOs and senior company executives, including Price Waterhouse -- one of the big five auditing firms under attack for its alleged role in the Satyam episode -- will be brainstorming corporate governance issues at the CII breakfast meeting here tomorrow.

Corporate accountability, ethics and transparency became the biggest casualties of a multi-billion dollar Satyam fraud.

Harinderjeet Singh, partner in the Price Waterhouse will be among the honchos taking lessons on corporate governance at the Confederation of Indian Industry meeting.

Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank Uday Kotak will be the main speaker at the meeting that has subjects like compliance, trust and fostering a culture of good governance on the agenda.

As many as four of senior functionaries from KPMG, also among the world's biggest audit firms, would take part in the brainstorming which is bound to discuss the fallout of close to Rs 8,000 crore Satyam fraud on India Inc's image among investors world over.

Corporate India has expressed concern over the global impact of the financial bungling, which Satyam Chairman B Ramalinga Raju has confessed yesterday.

CII came down heavily on the Satyam fraud yesterday. The chamber's President K V Kamath has said that there was a "need to immediately examine the loopholes in regulation, accounting, audit and governance that allowed such lapses to occur and address them with urgency".

He said corporate India must "reflect on ways to demonstrate its quality of governance and enhance the confidence of stakeholders".