Richard Meyer

In most developing nations, the collapse of Satyam Computer Services would follow a well-worn arc: poor corporate governance in a poorly regulated land leads to criticism from the West and promises of swift action from the government. But Satyam’s collapse happened in India—and has left that nation, increasingly vital to the supply chain of U.S. […]

For most of the last decade, China seemed to take a light approach on regulatory enforcement; it worried that strict application of its many laws, rules, and regulations would scare off investors when the economy could not afford to lose foreign money and manufacturing. Now signs are emerging that the days of benign neglect are […]

If Chinese authorities could have their way, all public companies in that country would begin complying with “CSOX”—China’s version of governance and financial reporting akin to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the United States—by the middle of next summer, as planned. But many experts tell Compliance Week that actual implementation of the new regulations within that […]

The United States isn’t the only economic superpower finally lurching into the global accounting age. On the other side of the world, China is doing much the same. “They are not a market economy in the same sense as the Western economies are, so they have made slight alterations,” says Stephen Taylor, a partner at […]

Westerners have always found China to be an exotic, mysterious place. When it comes to investigating shady business proposals, elusive employees or outright con-artist schemes, however, those words take on a whole new meaning. Consider the simple dinner scam. A Chinese company contacts a small U.S. or European manufacturer and places an order—a big order. […]

When China enacted its Labor Contract Law last year, reactions ranged from “no big deal” to “the end is near.” Now that the law has been in effect for six months, opinions—especially from those representing foreign interests—are swinging much closer to the latter. The law ostensibly transforms China’s reputation as an endless supply of cheap […]

The Chinese government is working to combat an environmental crisis largely caused by its own policies. The answers so far: dramatic speeches, jargon-laden white papers, and of course, more policy. The more tangible moves include closing factories, limiting car travel, and even swatting flies. From a regulatory standpoint, however, China has changed its tax and […]

In China, it’s not always easy to tell where private enterprise ends and the public sector begins. That can create problems for Western businesses operating under U.S. law. First, corporations might do business with Chinese companies that have Communist Party or government officials sitting on their boards or acting in an executive capacity; that raises […]

The past year has been a good one for regulation in China—that is, if “more” means better. Various bureaucracies in the country have been churning out drafts, circulars, laws, and statutes by the pound. Many have dealt with issues vital to the operation of multinationals in China: antitrust regulation, equity compensation, and more. But lawyers […]

The ten largest Chinese companies trading in the U.S. rate poorly when it comes to corporate governance, according to a recent report published by a consultancy that specializes in corporate governance issues. “The interesting thing was how uniformly poor they were,” says Victor Germack, founder and president of Rate Financials, the company that conducted the […]