Abstract
This paper addresses how the global activities undertaken 
by multinational enterprises (MNEs) in international 
settings impact corporate governance mechanisms and 
accountability systems. International corporate governance 
and accountability research, whether from a political 
science, economics, finance, or accounting perspective, has 
thus far predominantly focused on the comparison of 
corporate governance schemes in different countries and on 
the investigation of institutional parameters that 
determine these schemes. Straying from this line of 
inquiry, this article discusses how globalization at the 
firm level affects governance and accountability systems at 
parent- and subsidiary-levels. It emphasizes how an MNE's 
globalization attributes such as globalization scale, 
foreign adaptation, global competition, and international 
experience influence the design of governance mechanisms 
such as board size, board composition, executive 
compensation, market discipline, interlocking directorate, 
ownership concentration, duality and inbreeding, as well as 
the design of accountability systems such as accounting 
information, auditing standards, and financial and non-
financial disclosures. This article bases its conjectures 
on information processing and agency theories.