The Illusion of Transparency in Corporate Governance

The Illusion of Transparency in Corporate Governance

Author: Finn Janning

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-01-29

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 3030357805

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Transparency is generally seen as a corporate priority and a central attribute for promoting business growth and social morality. From a philosophical perspective, society has experienced a gradual paradigm shift which intensified after the Second World War with the advent of the information era. As a fundamental part of an inescapable, hegemonic capitalist system and given the insistent emphasis on it as a moral imperative, transparency, this book avers, needs to be examined and challenged as to its true governance value in building a sustainable twenty-first century society. Rather than clinging to the fantasy of complete transparency as the only form of accountability, corporate governance is strengthened in this way by practicing true social responsibility, which emerges not from outward-looking compliance but from a deeper place in the corporate psyche through inward-looking contemplation and the development of moral maturity.


Transparency in Government Operations

Transparency in Government Operations

Author: Mr.J. D. Craig

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 1998-02-03

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 155775697X

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Transparency in government operations is widely regarded as an important precondition for macroeconomic fiscal sustainability, good governance, and overall fiscal rectitude. Notably, the Interim Committee, at its April and September 1996 meetings, stressed the need for greater fiscal transparency. Prompted by these concerns, this paper represents a first attempt to address many of the aspects of transparency in government operations. It provides an overview of major issues in fiscal transparency and examines the IMF's role in promoting transparency in government operations.


Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance

Author: Ulrich Steger

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2008-04-30

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 0470773022

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This book present the value school of corporate governance, outlining a multitude of areas where corporate governance could add real worth, and showing how this can be put into effect. No “one-size-fits-all” model emerges as a solution. Rather, the insights in this book take idiosyncrasies and dynamics over time into consideration. They consider the main issues and their real causes, ownership settings, country settings and new developments in corporate governance research and practice. International focus places emphasises on typical patterns, predicament and solutions instead of national laws. Points are illustrated with in-depth case studies and highlighted learning nuggets. Alerts the reader to typical dilemmas and traps in attaining the goal of value creation, whilst also pointing to promising avenues forward.


Earnings Quality

Earnings Quality

Author: Jennifer Francis

Publisher: Now Publishers Inc

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 97

ISBN-13: 1601981147

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This review lays out a research perspective on earnings quality. We provide an overview of alternative definitions and measures of earnings quality and a discussion of research design choices encountered in earnings quality research. Throughout, we focus on a capital markets setting, as opposed, for example, to a contracting or stewardship setting. Our reason for this choice stems from the view that the capital market uses of accounting information are fundamental, in the sense of providing a basis for other uses, such as stewardship. Because resource allocations are ex ante decisions while contracting/stewardship assessments are ex post evaluations of outcomes, evidence on whether, how and to what degree earnings quality influences capital market resource allocation decisions is fundamental to understanding why and how accounting matters to investors and others, including those charged with stewardship responsibilities. Demonstrating a link between earnings quality and, for example, the costs of equity and debt capital implies a basic economic role in capital allocation decisions for accounting information; this role has only recently been documented in the accounting literature. We focus on how the precision of financial information in capturing one or more underlying valuation-relevant constructs affects the assessment and use of that information by capital market participants. We emphasize that the choice of constructs to be measured is typically contextual. Our main focus is on the precision of earnings, which we view as a summary indicator of the overall quality of financial reporting. Our intent in discussing research that evaluates the capital market effects of earnings quality is both to stimulate further research in this area and to encourage research on related topics, including, for example, the role of earnings quality in contracting and stewardship.


Following the Money

Following the Money

Author: George Benston

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2004-05-13

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 9780815708919

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A Brookings Institution Press and American Enterprise Institute publication A few years ago, Americans held out their systems of corporate governance and financial disclosure as models to be emulated by the rest of the world. But in late 2001 U.S. policymakers and corporate leaders found themselves facing the largest corporate accounting scandals in American history. The spectacular collapses of Enron and Worldcom—as well as the discovery of accounting irregularities at other large U.S. companies—seemed to call into question the efficacy of the entire system of corporate governance in the United States. In response, Congress quickly enacted a comprehensive package of reform measures in what has come to be known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ followed by making fundamental changes to their listing requirements. The private sector acted as well. Accounting firms—watching in horror as one of their largest, Arthur Andersen, collapsed after a criminal conviction for document shredding—tightened their auditing procedures. Stock analysts and ratings agencies, hit hard by a series of disclosures about their failings, changed their practices as well. Will these reforms be enough? Are some counterproductive? Are other shortcomings in the disclosure system still in need of correction? These are among the questions that George Benston, Michael Bromwich, Robert E. Litan, and Alfred Wagenhofer address in Following the Money. While the authors agree that the U.S. system of corporate disclosure and governance is in need of change, they are concerned that policymakers may be overreacting in some areas and taking actions in others that may prove to be ineffective or even counterproductive. Using the Enron case as a point of departure, the authors argue that the major problem lies not in the accounting and auditing standards themselves, but in the system of enforcing those standards.


Business Accounting

Business Accounting

Author: Frank Wood

Publisher: Financial Times/Prentice Hall

Published: 2011-07

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780273759287

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This is the latest edition of the world's best-selling textbook on bookkeeping and accounting. It contains a large number of questions and answers and worked examples.


Corporate Governance Around the World

Corporate Governance Around the World

Author: Ahmed Naciri

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2008-02-14

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 1134087888

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The last Asian financial crisis, coupled with the western series of corporate scandals, has caused investors and citizens to doubt mangers ability to guarantee credible financial information about organizations. Consequently, legislators all over the world have come to realise the necessity of legislating in the area of corporate governance.


Accounting for Value

Accounting for Value

Author: Stephen Penman

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2010-12-30

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0231521855

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Accounting for Value teaches investors and analysts how to handle accounting in evaluating equity investments. The book's novel approach shows that valuation and accounting are much the same: valuation is actually a matter of accounting for value. Laying aside many of the tools of modern finance the cost-of-capital, the CAPM, and discounted cash flow analysis Stephen Penman returns to the common-sense principles that have long guided fundamental investing: price is what you pay but value is what you get; the risk in investing is the risk of paying too much; anchor on what you know rather than speculation; and beware of paying too much for speculative growth. Penman puts these ideas in touch with the quantification supplied by accounting, producing practical tools for the intelligent investor. Accounting for value provides protection from paying too much for a stock and clues the investor in to the likely return from buying growth. Strikingly, the analysis finesses the need to calculate a "cost-of-capital," which often frustrates the application of modern valuation techniques. Accounting for value recasts "value" versus "growth" investing and explains such curiosities as why earnings-to-price and book-to-price ratios predict stock returns. By the end of the book, Penman has the intelligent investor thinking like an intelligent accountant, better equipped to handle the bubbles and crashes of our time. For accounting regulators, Penman also prescribes a formula for intelligent accounting reform, engaging with such controversial issues as fair value accounting.


The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

Author: United States

Publisher: LexisNexis/Matthew Bender

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13:

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This handy reference booklet contains the text of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, along with analysis and guidance from leading corporate and securities practitioners. The expert commentary provides: an overview of the Act's requirements; discussion on how the Act affects corporate officers and directors; and advice on how to implement the new certification requirements.