Accountability and Transparency: A Guide for State Ownership

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) play an important role in the ownership landscape and in global markets. How well these state-owned enterprises are governed has a significant impact on their performance and value, as well as on public finances, economic growth and competitiveness.
Transparency and accountability are key to investment, growth and competitiveness. State-owned enterprises which are transparent and accountable are more likely to conform to the rule of law, including respecting shareholder and stakeholder rights. They enjoy higher levels of public trust and have better access to capital at lower cost.

This Guide facilitates the practical implementation of the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises in the areas of transparency and accountability.  It shows, using specific examples, that improvement is politically feasible, considering the complex challenges that governments have to face, providing:
- a catalogue of viable policy options
- a step-by-step road map pointing out typical difficulties, risks and hurdles
- concrete examples of good practices
help to governments, their ownership entities and to other stakeholders in evaluating existing practices and support reforms