Credit: Better accounting the first step towards accountability
Martin Wolf in the FT writes today about vast assets that governments control, some of them commercial. He looks at the book, The Public Wealth of Nations, and its claim that professional management of public wealth might raise extra income to governments of $2.7 trillion annually.
"The ownership of assets does not need to be private. But management needs to be professional, unified and subject to incentives for improved performance," he writes.
Obviously, that would take an overhaul of the cushy, secure system of employment and incentives in most developed economies. The starting point, he argues, should be transparency and accounting.
It's an claim we'll hear more of in the coming years.
Perhaps the biggest reasons corporate governance has improved so much in the past 50 years is transparency. I think we're headed towards an era of radical transparency and the sectors and countries that embrace it first will be best off.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
