“When Maytag Corp. appeared last week on a prominent list of poorly governed companies, the appliance maker rushed to defend its record. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which takes special aim at a small group of companies each year, lambasted Maytag for a series of missteps, including poor financial performance and its refusal to implement changes suggested by its shareholders,” according to a story in today’s Wall Street Journal.

“In seeking to bolster its defense, Maytag trotted out a report from a surprising champion: Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., an influential firm that promotes good corporate governance by ranking company practices.”

” ‘Maytag agrees with ISS that it is in the top echelon in terms of corporate governance,’ the company said in a statement issued shortly after the big California pension fund, known as Calpers, named Maytag to its list.”

“Nearly two years after a handful of organizations promised to simplify the maze of corporate governance, shareholders are being flooded with conflicting opinions, disparate analysis and the growing sense that maybe it doesn’t matter after all.”

” ‘How credible is this stuff if there are all these discrepancies?’ asks Carol Bowie, director of the corporate-governance service at the Investor Responsibility Research Center. The Washington-based advisory group last year ditched plans to issue corporate-governance ratings, but tells clients where companies stand on key issues, such as takeover defenses, executive compensation and board structure.”

“In addition to ISS, a number of prominent organizations analyze or rank companies on corporate governance, including GovernanceMetrics International, Standard & Poor’s Corp., Moody’s Investors Service, and Corporate Library, a Portland, Maine, research firm that focuses on corporate-governance issues.”

“Indeed, the value of corporate-governance rankings and analysis is generating friction even as investors are turning up the heat on companies. In recent months, shareholders launched a number of high-profile campaigns to withhold support from directors up for re-election at companies like Walt Disney Co. and Safeway Inc. as a way to protest their allegedly weak governance practices.”

” ‘Issues of corporate integrity and corporate governance are fairly complex and we don’t feel that one size fits all,’ says Greg Taxin, chief executive of Glass Lewis & Co., which doesn’t compile corporate-governance rankings. The firm advises clients how to vote in annual meetings and proxy matters.”

“Much of the debate has centered on methodology. ISS and GovernanceMetrics, for example, score companies using long lists of set criteria, tapping public information and conducting other research about board members, bylaws and takeover defenses.”

“S&P, which evaluates companies at their request, doesn’t make the report public without the company’s approval. Corporate Library follows a mixed approach that considers a company’s structure, as well as subjective issues, such as the balance of power between the management and its board.”