Should corporate governance codes should be voluntary or mandated by regulators?

Corporate governance is viewed increasingly as a means of ensuring that the exercise ofeconomic power by the corporate sector is grounded in accountability. Different EU MemberStates tend to articulate the purpose of corporate governance in different ways; someemphasise broad stakeholder interests and others emphasise ownership rights of shareholders.Although the comparative corporate governance literature and popular discussion tend toemphasise “fundamental” differences between stakeholder and shareholder interests, theextent to which these interests are different can be debated. The majority of corporategovernance codes expressly recognise that corporate success, shareholder profit, employeesecurity and well being, and the interests of other stakeholders are intertwined and codependent.This co-dependency is emphasised even in codes issued by the investorcommunity.