In 2008, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development launched an action plan to develop a set of recommendations for improvements in priority areas such as remuneration, risk management, board practices and the exercise of shareholder rights. These recommendations also addressed how the implementation of already-agreed standards can be improved. This work was published in a series of three papers, the first of which provides an overview of the shortcomings in corporate governance surfaced by the financial crisis, and the resulting challenges.