Corporate Governance in Tunisia, IACE Perspectives Institut Arabe des Chefs d’Entreprise, Mme. Rym Bedoui Amman, Tuesday, January 25th, 2005

Institut Arabe des Chefs d’Entreprise Think Tank Association Creation in 1984 About 500 members Arab Forum of Young Entrepreneurs Hosting the Friederich Neuman Foundation

Tunisian Stock market at Glance 45 Companies registered 9% GDP 2/3 are state companies 90% of companies are family owned

Corporate Governance in Tunisia First actions initiated in 2001  Tax laws were reviewed by government following a national discussion from IACE members  Discussions on taxation issues and responsibility of managers

Government laws and regulations Update Business Law: 2000  Highlight on the management of executive boards and accounting procedures Law on « Holdings »: 2001  Transparency on cross investment Financial System and security Codes: 2005  Tunisian equivalent of “Sarbanes –Oxley”Act  Transparency and accountability

IACE’s role Upward  Brainstorming and recommendation list for ministries involved in the law/ codes Downward  Awareness campaigns  Training and open forum for discussion

Business Ethics – IACE Seminar Awareness conference Survey to assess situation Funded by MEPI (US Embassy)

Presentation of the survey Population: Members of “Institut Arabe des Chefs d’Entreprise” (500) Response rate : 20% Methodology: Questionnaires and interviews Analysis: basic

Importance of the Relationship for the Manager  Market Development is a top priority

Ranking of Responsibility toward employees  Communication, attention, dialogue: Trust helps establish business ethics

Relation with supplier, client, competition: Stability, Trust and ethics

Relationship with customers  Responsibility & respect are « priority »

Relationship with Shareholders  Transparency in communication is the basis  Profit is low ranked

“Bad Behavior”, Impact on Ethics  Abus de bien social représente le délit le plus grave  Bribery is only ranked 3rd

Relationship of the managers Conflict of Interest is a major concern

Outcomes of interviews Impact of the environment Relationship with government Black market

Conclusions & Recommendations Ethics is mandatory in the company Next step  National scale study  Develop a code of ethics for Tunisia  Awareness campaigns and training