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Oleksandr Okuniev<\/strong>, Chairman of the CGPA Management Board, gave some comments on the Supervisory Boards’ activity of the state-owned enterprises. The article’s title with comments is “Supervisory Boards of state-owned enterprises – manual management or professionalism of independent directors?”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Management of state-owned enterprises continues to be the Achilles’ heel of the Ukrainian economy. According to the SPFU’s data for last year (the data for 2020 are unlikely to be any rosier), one in five state-owned enterprises is unprofitable. Until recently, the Fund didn’t suggest ways to improve corporate governance of state property, except selling it, so as they say, a new owner will come and put things in order. However, instead of privatization preparation, which would have helped to increase the value of the state assets offered for sale, the State Property Fund has changed acting directors several times over the past year. And contrary to the government’s plans, it has never set up supervisory boards of state enterprises with the presence of independent directors. Let’s try to understand what this policy of the Fund leads to and whether supervisory boards with independent directors will help improve the quality of management at state-owned assets and improve their investment attractiveness.<\/p>\n “An effective independent supervisory board is a must-have option for state-owned companies that are not planned for privatization shortly and need to develop and implement a development strategy,” Oleksandr Okuniev, Chairman of the Board of the Corporate Governance Professional Association (CGPA) is sure. “For me, the marker of effectiveness is the insane pressure and attacks that independent directors feel. If independent supervisory boards were not effective, nobody would notice them. So, they’re in someone’s way! That is the function of a supervisory board – to hinder those who treat state companies as a source of personal enrichment.”<\/p>\n The whole article is available in Ukrainian and Russian by the link:<\/p>\n