Accounting, auditing and corporate governance of European listed companies: EU policy developments before and after Enron

This article provides an overview of EU policy developments in accounting, auditing and corporate governance before and after the collapse of Enron. For EU policy-makers the article identifies areas for both encouragement and concern. It concludes that considerable progress has been made towards the harmonization of accounting, auditing and corporate governance within the context of the Financial Services Action Plan. However, it can be argued that, to achieve this, the EU has given too much ground to US hegemony, whether by embracing US practice masquerading as international ‘best practice’, or being forced to accept US practice where the US chooses to act unilaterally.