The past two decades have seen cycles of serious economic crisis and corporate scandal followed by significant regulatory changes to the corporate governance framework.
New legislation was enacted, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enhanced public company disclosure requirements and also approved proxy access for shareholders (although those rules are currently stayed from effectiveness due to pending litigation).
