Corporate Governance Decisions in Accounting Business Field for Increasing Competitiveness: Romania, France and Europe Comparison

Creating value for shareholders in terms of equity value growth significantly depends on the ability of corporate governance to make optimal decisions for the company's competitiveness. The article conducts a comparative study between Romania, France and the average recorded in the European Union regarding competitiveness in companies from the accounting business field for the timeframe 2008-2013. Competitiveness is measured as the average for the domestic-owned companies and separately for the foreign-owned companies. Competitiveness assessment is based on asset related elements, processes and performance. The key success factors used for assessing competitiveness are investment rate, gross operating rate, turnover per person employed, share of personal cost in production and added value. The data are collected through the European Statistical System and processed by means of competitiveness analysis methods used in the literature. The findings show that the competitiveness of Romanian and French companies from the accounting business field is above the European Union average. The hypothesis according to which the foreign-owned companies are more competitive than domestic-owned companies is partially confirmed. The foreign owned companies are increasing their competitiveness by reducing labour cost and increasing productivity and added value. They invest far less than companies with local ownership.