...Usefulness of Corporate Governance and Financial Ratios to Credit and Financial Analysts: Evidence from Bahrain Jasim Al-Ajmi Department of Economics and Finance, College of Business Administration University of Bahrain, Bahrain Tel: +973-39444284; Fax: +973-17449776 E-mail: jasimalajmi@gmail.com Abstract Financial ratios provide useful quantitative information to investors and analysts who want to evaluate the operations of a firm and analyze its position within its industry over time. The financial indicators that analysts use as basis for decisions are not necessarily all equally useful. This study attempts to determine the perceptions of credit and financial analysts working in financial institutions in Bahrain as to the usefulness of 71 financial ratios and 6 attributes of corporate governance named in a questionnaire. There are no significant differences between credit analysts and financial analysts with respect to 40 of the indicators. Credit analysts consider the quick ratio the most useful ratio, followed by the non-recurrent ratio. Financial analysts consider price-earnings the most useful ratio, followed by the market-to-book ratio. The quality of corporate governance practices is also considered important by financial analysts, but less important by credit analysts. These results should be of interest to a variety of stakeholders, including credit analysts, financial analysts, auditors, regulators and educators. Keywords: Corporate governance, credit analysts...
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...The Consequences of Mandatory Corporate Sustainability Reporting Ioannis Ioannou London Business School George Serafeim Harvard Business School Abstract We examine the effect of mandatory sustainability reporting on several measures of socially responsible management practices. Using data for 58 countries, we show that after the adoption of mandatory sustainability reporting laws and regulations, the social responsibility of business leaders increases. We also document that both sustainable development and employee training become a higher priority for companies, and that corporate governance improves. Furthermore, we find that companies implement more ethical practices, reduce bribery and corruption, and that managerial credibility increases. These effects are larger for countries with stronger law enforcement and more widespread assurance of sustainability reports. We conclude with thoughts about mandatory sustainability and integrated reporting. Keywords: sustainability reporting, mandatory reporting, corporate social responsibility, integrated reporting Assistant Professor of Strategic and International Management, London Business School, Regent’s Park, NW1 4SA, London, United Kingdom. Email: iioannou@london.edu, Ph: +44 20 7000 8748, Fx: +44 20 7000 7001. Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School, Soldiers’ Field Road, Morgan Hall 381, 02163 Boston, MA, USA. Email:gserafeim@hbs.edu, Ph: +1 617 495 6548, Fx: +1 617 496 7387 (contact...
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...[pic] SOUND FINANCIAL REPORTING IS A GOOD THING FOR BRINGING CONFIDENCE BACK TO THE CORPORATE WORLD Submitted By: Ahmed Shafiul Huq 801414063 Principle of Accounting (EIB505) Section: B Executive Master of Business Administration Submitted To: Mr. Mohammad Rakib Uddin Bhuiyan Assistant Professor Department of International Business Faculty of Business Studies EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A company’s financial reporting amalgamates important documents to create an effective spreadsheet to simplify the financial data of an organization. It captures much of the information that organizations prepare, publish, and use. Financial reporting plays an integral role in the capital markets and economic stability and growth, and efforts to enhance its quality are vital. A Sound Financial Reporting provides us relevant, meaningful, reliable, accurate and comprehensive reporting of management stewardship whether in the form of numbers or other operating data. It is increasingly important for businesses to be financially transparent and for governments to establish a sound regulatory environment for corporate financial reporting. Sound financial reporting can benefit business by some ways just like valuing business, easy to identify...
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...Table of content 1. Question 1 1. Introduce to Corporate Governance 2. Governance makes a Difference 3. Failures of Corporate Governance 4. Failures in Major companies 5. Reform of Corporate Governance 6. Conclusions 2. Question 2 1. Introduce to Cadbury Report 2. Conclusions 3.0 References Question 1 Based on the above it has been stated that “the problem is not a failure to comply with rules but a failure in governance practice”. Do you agree and why? (10 Marks) Introduce to Corporate Governance Corporate governance looks at issues pertaining to transparency, integrity, effectiveness and accountability in the management of the affairs, and all other activities of an organization. Management is concerned with the company’s operations, functions and financial performance; hence, corporate governance aims to involve the quality assurance of the operation of the board itself. The concern is for the welfare, good performance, corporate ethics and morality, as well as social and public responsibility for the good corporate citizenship. Corporate governance also involves in system to ensure that the organization’s obligations to its major stakeholders. The relationship among the many stakeholders and the way of corporation is directed and governed is therefore created. Stakeholders might include customers, employees, creditors, suppliers and distributors, the...
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...Ethical Issues in Business A. Stakeholders In a business context, customers, investors and shareholders, employees, suppliers, government agencies, communities, and others who have a “stake” or claim in some aspect of a company’s products, operations, markets, industry, and outcomes are known as stakeholders. 1. Stakeholders are influenced by business, but they also have the ability to affect businesses. 2. They apply their values and standards to many diverse issues—for example, working conditions, consumer rights, environmental conservation, product safety, and proper information disclosure—which may or may not directly affect an individual stakeholder’s own welfare. 3. They provide both tangible and intangible resources that are more or less critical to a firm’s long-term success. 4. Individual stakeholders that share similar expectations about desirable business conduct may choose to establish or join formal communities to advocate their values and expectations. 5. Stakeholders’ ability to withdraw—or to threaten to withdraw—valuable needed resources gives them power over businesses. B. Identifying Stakeholders 1. Stakeholders can be divided into two categories. a) Primary stakeholders are those whose continued association is absolutely necessary for a firm’s survival; these include employees, customers, investors, and stockholders, as well as the governments and communities that provide necessary infrastructure...
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...pdfInternational Journal of Education and Research Vol. 1 No. 6 June 2013 SHARIAH GOVERNANCE FOR ISLAMIC CAPITAL MARKET: A STEP FORWARD Nawal Kasim Accounting Research Institute, Faculty of Accountancy UniversitiTeknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia Sheila Nu NuHtay Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance International Islamic University Malaysia, Gombak, Malaysia Syed Ahmed Salman PhD. Candidate and research assistant at Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Sponsored or supported by: ARIHICoE Research Grant Abstract Since the last few decades, Islamic finance industry has developed tremendously penetrating not only the Muslim countries but surprisingly the non-Muslim countries as well. It has been acknowledged by the scholars on the need for this development to cater for the Islamic banking, Takaful and Islamic capital market industries. These three main industries are interrelated and dependent on each other in order to ensure that the whole Islamic financial system is in compliance with the Islamic principles. Among these three streams of the service industry, the Islamic capital market plays a crucial role to support the other two. Since Islamic banks and Takaful operators have to invest to provide the benefits to the investors and policy holders which are compatible with the conventional counterparts, the Islamic capital market is assumed to be the backbone for the two to survive and grow in the Islamic...
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...Introduction Institutional investors have become predominant players in the stock market, and their influence has been growing steadily in recent times. Due to their large shareholdings it is perceived that institutional investors can leverage their position and act as watchdogs against corporate abuse. There are however several practical considerations which serve as disincentives to shareholder activism. The assertion that institutional investors have the potential and the incentive to contribute towards improving the corporate governance regime of their respective portfolio companies is a contentious issue. Some commentators on this subject have made a positive assessment of shareholder activism but empirical findings give a checkered history of the efficacy of such institutional investor activism thereby casting a shadow of doubt on the role of institutional investors in corporate governance. The analysis of divergent theories on the incentives and disincentives governing the behaviour of institutional investors in this regard becomes pertinent. The questions that are sought to be addressed in this paper are as follows - a. What are the various incentives and disincentives to shareholder activism among institutional investors? b. What are the techniques which may be employed by institutional investors to monitor the companies in which they invest? c. What are the reasons behind shareholder passivity? Is this apathy rational in the context of institutional...
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...INTRODUCTION Many professionals and accounting researchers have raised the question -Is ethics directly linked to the practice of earnings management? Earnings management is defined by Beaudoin, Cianci, and Tsakumis (2012, p.507), as “the manipulation of revenues and/or expenses to obtain a desired financial reporting outcome.” He and Yang’s article offers that the definition of earnings management is “a process in which managers use judgment in financial reporting and in structuring transactions to alter financial reports to either mislead some stakeholders about the underlying economic performance of the company or to influence contractual outcomes that depend on reported accounting numbers” (He and Yang 2013). So either way one looks at it, earnings management is a form of deceit. In Shafer’s (2013, p.45) paper, the author defines ethical climate by referencing Victor and Cullen (1988) as, “the prevailing perceptions among employees of organizational practices and procedures that have ethical content.” More often than none, findings have shown that companies tend to engage in earnings management through management’s actions, and not just through accounting choices. Corporations tend to conduct earnings management to meet earnings forecasts, as well as, to decrease financing and tax costs. One side of the spectrum would argue that it is perfectly fine to manage earnings, as long as it is within the generally accepted accounting principles. Others would argue that managing...
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...Berkeley Journal of International Law Volume 26 | Issue 2 Article 5 2008 Corporate Governance as Social Responsibility: A Research Agenda Amiram Gill Recommended Citation Amiram Gill, Corporate Governance as Social Responsibility: A Research Agenda, 26 Berkeley J. Int'l Law. 452 (2008). Available at: http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bjil/vol26/iss2/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals and Related Materials at Berkeley Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Berkeley Journal of International Law by an authorized administrator of Berkeley Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact jcera@law.berkeley.edu. Gill: Corporate Governance as Social Responsibility: A Research Agenda Corporate Governance as Social Responsibility: A Research Agenda By Amiram Gill* In the post-Enron years, corporate governance has shifted from its traditional focus on agency conflicts to address issues of ethics, accountability, transparency,and disclosure. Moreover, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has increasinglyfocused on corporate governance as a vehicle for incorporating social and environmental concerns into the business decision-making process, benefiting not only financial investors but also employees, consumers, and communities. Currently, corporate governance is being linked more and more with business practices and public policies that are stakeholder-friendly. This ...
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...Corporate Governance of Commercial Banks in Bangladesh Introduction: The need for corporate governance arises from the potential conflicts of interest among stakeholders in the corporate structure. These conflicts of interest often arise from two main reasons. First, different stakeholders have different goals and preferences. Second, the stakeholders have imperfect information as to each others actions, knowledge, and preferences. Corporate governance (CG) is an important effort to ensure accountability and responsibility and is a set of principles, which should be incorporated into every part of the organization. Though it is viewed as a recent issue, there is, in fact, nothing new about the concept. Because it has been in existence as long as the corporation itself-as long as there has been large – scale trade, reflecting the need for responsibility in the handling money and the conduct of commercial activities. Numerous works, studies, and researches have been conducted to enact principles, codes, and guidelines for ensuring good corporate governance systems and culture within the organizations. Sir Adrian Cadbury in 'Global Corporate Governance Forum’ defined corporate governance as: "Corporate Governance is concerned with holding the balance between economic and social goals and between individual and communal goals. The corporate governance framework is there to encourage the efficient use of resources and equally to require accountability for the stewardship...
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...Biovail INTRODUCTION Operating within a complex and highly competitive pharmaceutical industry, the challenges confronting Biovail are intensifying as regulatory agencies release formal allegations of misconduct against four corporate executives and as outstanding lawsuits, widespread scrutiny, and a history of questionable accounting practices are unavoidably coming to a head. Responsible for overcoming its damaged reputation and for moving the company forward, it is imperative that management at Biovail resolve three immediate issues. 1. Establishing a worst-case scenario, what is the known liability that Biovail has incurred for deceiving its investors? 2. What does a comparative financial analysis of Biovail, Abbot Labs, and Cephalon reveal about Biovail's strategic weaknesses? 3. What principles of governance can be employed to assure investors that Biovail's past misconduct will not recur in the future? FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Liability for Fraudulent Reporting and Communications to Investors In all likelihood, a class action lawsuit against the company for aggressive and misleading accounting practices (which have had a material impact on shareholder returns) is forthcoming. Biovail must be prepared to accept responsibility for the damage experienced by investors as a result of its former actions and misrepresentations. Even though (as of February 2008) Melnyk no longer holds any affiliated role with Biovail, and although he alone is responsible for his personal actions, he held...
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...How is good corporate governance achieved? 3 2.2 Why is this concept important to Australia? 4 2.3 What are the roles, responsibilities and powers of the Board of Directors, Management and shareholders? 5 2.3.1 The roles, responsibilities and powers of the Board of Directors 5 2.3.2 The roles, responsibilities and powers of the Board of Management 7 2.3.3 The roles, responsibilities and powers of the Board of Shareholder 8 2.4 How does the Board add value to a company? 9 2.5 What are at least two of the theories that are used to “measure” corporate governance? How do they measure “good” corporate governance? e.g. Contractual theory and the communitarian theory, stakeholder theory. 10 2.6 What disclosures to shareholders are required by law and why? 11 3 Conclusions 13 4 Bibliographies 14 1 Introduction Nowadays, the company governs has become the global economic which a subject matter grows day by day. When a company maintains the competitive power, attracting investments, guaranteed that sustainable, and struggle against corruption, it must to applying good governance. In the most foundation's level, the company governs sets up “the game rule” to handle the related property rights and the domination separation. Board of directors’ benefit, the coordinated enterprise's owners, the superintendent and other benefit counterparts, were considered that is the essential effective revolution company governs the frame in a company. The good corporate management...
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...Strategies used by investor to invest in a socially responsible company 4 Factors considered by the SRI funds/investors for investing into any company 4 Sources to gather the information for the decision making process 4 Different strategy used by the funds to make SRI decisions 5 6. Two examples of SRI funds: Composition and unique features 6 A. Triodos Sustainable Equity Fund 6 B. Calvert Capital Accumulation Fund Class C 6 7. A Company with SRI investment: Starbucks 7 About the company 7 Sustainability initiatives 7 Controversies 8 ESG Ratings 9 8. Conclusion 9 9. Appendices 10 10. References 10 1. What is SRI? Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is sometimes referred to as “sustainable”, “socially conscious”, “mission,” “green” or “ethical” investing. In general, socially responsible investors are looking to promote concepts and ideals that they feel strongly about. The idea is that if oneinvests in companies that cause social or environmental harm, then one is profiting from their evil. SRI is an approach under which socially and environmentally conscious investors channel their funds towards those companies which have a positive impact on the community and environment, and avoid doing harm due to their operations. This approachcompels companies seeking a share of these investments to modify their practices to be eligible for such investments. Investors may be investment funds, or individual investors. Individual investors seeking to invest...
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...Chapter 6: 1. SOX has introduced sweeping changes in the name of enforcing corporate ethnics. Is it really a “fair” piece of legislation? Explain your answer. In my opinion, it is not a really a “fair” piece of legislation. In 2002, the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley heralded sweeping reforms affecting the content and preparation of disclosure documents by public companies. As part of the reforms, the legislation requires companies to disclose the fundamental business values by which the senior management of companies operates. SOX is widely credited for strengthening at least two major areas of investor protection: (1) CEO and CFO responsibility and accountability for all financial disclosures and related controls; and (2) increased professionalism and engagement on the part of corporate audit committees. Yet some continue to question its overall value, citing, as an example, its failure to prevent the situations that led to the financial crisis of 2008. One of the most controversial aspects of SOX Act is Section 404, which requires company management to provide assertions of effective internal control over financial reporting and for the company's independent audit firm to attest to those assertions. Congress has been repeatedly pressured to ease this requirement, which it did with the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act), passed by Congress and signed by President Obama April 5, 2012. The JOBS Act contained a provision that eliminated the SOX Section 404...
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...Operating within a complex and highly competitive pharmaceutical industry, the challenges confronting Biovail are intensifying as regulatory agencies release formal allegations of misconduct against four corporate executives and as outstanding lawsuits, widespread scrutiny, and a history of questionable accounting practices are unavoidably coming to a head. Responsible for overcoming its damaged reputation and for moving the company forward, it is imperative that management at Biovail resolve three immediate issues. 1. Establishing a worst-case scenario, what is the known liability that Biovail has incurred for deceiving its investors? 2. What does a comparative financial analysis of Biovail, Abbot Labs, and Cephalon reveal about Biovail's strategic weaknesses? 3. What principles of governance can be employed to assure investors that Biovail's past misconduct will not recur in the future? FINANCIAL ANALYSIS Liability for Fraudulent Reporting and Communications to Investors In all likelihood, a class action lawsuit against the company for aggressive and misleading accounting practices (which have had a material impact on shareholder returns) is forthcoming. Biovail must be prepared to accept responsibility for the damage experienced by investors as a result of its former actions and misrepresentations. Even though (as of February 2008) Melnyk no longer holds any affiliated role with Biovail, and although he alone is responsible for his personal...
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