TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to review corporate governance literature from an international perspective in terms of having a global code of corporate governance.Design/methodology/approach– Using a wide ranging literature review, the paper looks at the issue of a global corporate governance code of best practice from legal, corporate ownership structure and financial systems perspectives and the consequent/divergence issues that arise.Findings– The paper supports the hypothesis that the “one size fits all” approach to corporate governance, particularly the Anglo Saxon model, is not necessarily the right approach from a global perspective. Convergence on fundamental features of shareholder protection, independence of directors and establishment of committees may be the preferred way forward.Practical implications– The acceptance of a global corporate governance code is limited due to the adaptations in the business environment, investor confidence and corporate successes and failures.Originality/value– The analysis of the framework provides an interesting paper for corporate governance researchers. VL - 23 IS - 6 SN - 0268-6902 DO - 10.1108/02686900810882093 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/02686900810882093 AU - Davies Marlene AU - Schlitzer Bernadette PY - 2008 Y1 - 2008/01/01 TI - The impracticality of an international “one size fits all” corporate governance code of best practice T2 - Managerial Auditing Journal PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 532 EP - 544 Y2 - 2024/04/25 ER -