Corporate governance crisis down under: Post-Enron accounting education and research inertia

Abstract

Australian and New Zealand accounting academic responses to corporate governance and reporting failures is a story not simply told in the context of high profile international corporate failures such as Enron and WorldCom. This study notes a sequence of major Australian corporate failures that predate Enron and WorldCom. Through research into professional, business and research literature, profession and governmental/regulatory websites, and interviews with senior accounting academics across Australia and New Zealand, it also highlights a tale of limited response by Australian and New Zealand accounting academics and investigates the manifest and latent drivers of this inertia. The corporatisation and commercialisation of universities and related governance processes emerge as root causes of accounting academics' general failure to address recent major breakdowns in corporate governance and reporting in the business world. The paper closes by reviewing opportunities for change in an otherwise embattled environment.     

Managing Cultural Diversity in Collaborations: A focus on management tensions

Abstract

This article explores the management of cultural diversity in public and not-for-profit collaborations spanning organizational, professional and national boundaries. Through the framing of a culture paradox, it identifies three interrelated tensions pertaining to the management of cultural diversity towards collaborative advantage. These tensions address: interactions between organizations within a collaboration; interactions between individual actors and their orientation towards the collaboration and their host organization; and the quantity and extent of cultural diversity within a collaboration. The culture paradox and its inherent management tensions provide theoretical and practical conceptualizations that are relevant to management and governance of collaboration.     

企业科技文化的维度分析

文章结合文化维度理论对企业科技文化的维度结构进行了界定,企业科技文化由五个维度构成,包括:市场倾向、时间倾向、人本倾向、风险态度、合作协调。同时文章结合企业科技文化的建设需要,探讨了现代企业科技文化维度上的合理选择与定位。包括以市场为中心、长期利益向导、以人为中心、鼓励冒险、集体主义。     

基于文化差异视角的中西方公司治理比较研究

从文化差异的角度探讨中西方公司治理的不同理念或不同模式,为中国公司治理制度改革提供依据。论文首先基于公司治理阐述中西方文化差异的根源;随后分别阐述以英美为代表的西方文化背景和中国文化背景下的公司治理模式;最后结合中西方公司治理改革实践,提出中国公司治理模式与自身文化相适应的策略。     

A service governance mechanism based on process mining for cloud-based applications

ABSTRACT

With the widely use of cloud computing in enterprise information systems, service governance becomes critical for an enterprise to adapt to a changing business environment. In order to provide a dynamic strategy for continuous service governance, in this paper a comprehensive service analysis solution is proposed to address both design time and run-time requirements for cloud applications. First, a process-centric Semantic Scene Model is composed to combines static business requirements with dynamic execution information. Then service analysis is conducted referring both to the business process mining results from event logs and the Semantic Scene Model given by business model designers. Service governance strategies are generated from the service analysis results and are performed to qualitatively classify the Quality of Service (QoS) of the services. Finally the approach is verified with a transportation logistics service application in a cloud platform. The result shows that our method can get continuous service governance through combining business processes with run-time service analysis.     

Managers’ use of language in corrupt firms’ financial disclosures: Evidence from FCPA violators

This paper explores management’s use of language in financial disclosures of corrupt firms by looking at a sample of firms that have been prosecuted for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). We find that the management of FCPA violators use more negative, less litigious, more complex and less conservative language when disclosing financials than non‐violators. The language effect prior to an FCPA prosecution is driven by firms with low corporate governance performance. By contrast, firms with high corporate governance use less complex and more conservative language before an FCPA prosecution than firms with low corporate governance performance. Furthermore, we find that after an FCPA prosecution the language becomes less litigious and complex than before the FCPA litigation.     

Values and the Social Responsibility of Global Business

ABSTRACT

Business is widely viewed as one of the major institutions in society. It has assumed a socially responsible role for itself that has given rise to two competing paradigms, social philanthropy and corporate citizenship. Business, however, has not fulfilled its social responsibility particularly well. One reason is that business does not seem to have understood the interplay between individual-level, culture-level and corporate-level values nor the implications of national differences in culture-level value priorities. Some recent developments in cross-cultural psychology offer a useful paradigm for understanding this interplay and resolving any conflicts which result from the attempts of global business to implement socially responsible policies.     

Key Concepts in Ethnography

Abstract

As a reaction to recent corporate scandals, corporate law and accounting regulations have recently been modified in German-speaking countries. Despite changing corporate contexts and agendas, accounting research in these countries has been comparatively silent on issues of corporate governance. In this paper, we discuss this limited response, focusing particularly on the field of management accounting. In German-speaking countries, management accounting is conceived of in a specific way (usually referred to as Controlling). The traditions of such a practice and the associated academic school of thought have made it difficult for researchers to consider issues of corporate governance and internal control in more empirical depth. Pointing to the importance of investigating the actual use of accounting systems and, thus, the social and institutional context of accounting, we propose a strategy for research and education that would allow for more comprehensive insights into the role that (management) accounting might play in corporate scandals.     

Say-on-Pay Votes: The Role of the Media

Abstract

We investigate the association between the media coverage of firms’ CEO pay packages and subsequent shareholder voting on say-on-pay resolutions, and find that negative media coverage is able to predict shareholder discontent over say on pay. When we divide media coverage into coverage in the financial and business press versus coverage in the general press, we find that shareholder voting on say-on-pay resolutions is mainly associated with the articles from the financial and business press. This suggests that the media cannot be considered a homogeneous information source that is equally able to predict shareholders’ voting behaviors. As such, our findings have important implications for studies on the role of the media in corporate governance.     

文化旅游产业链治理模式研究

文化是旅游的灵魂,旅游是文化的重要载体。从产业发展的视角看,旅游产业与文化产业相互融合,相得益彰,密不可分。在企业及区域之间的竞争愈趋于以产业链竞争为主要竞争形式的语境中,本文基于产业组织及产业发展理论,沿循文化旅游"产业链界定—产业链构成要素—产业链治理影响因素—产业链治理模式选择"的思路,对文化旅游产业链治理模式进行了探索,旨在进一步深化对文化旅游产业链治理模式的研究。     

民营企业公司治理中家族冲突的解决路径

民营企业公司治理的核心任务就是要解决企业治理和家族治理之间的冲突。以血缘和信任为纽带的家族情感与以法律和经济契约为纽带的现代公司理性本身就存在冲突。在民营企业公司治理层面,当所有权与经营权分离时,民营企业家就必须设计和探索出一条既能保障家族权益、又能实现企业有效管控的健康发展的公司治理路径。民营企业的家族商业表现同家族和睦与家族冲突息息相关。代民营企业公司治理需要在经济理性与家族情感、文化传统与现行法律、专业化运营与家族控股中找到合适的平衡点。民营企业公司在成长过程中,需要在公司治理的关键环节上进行设计和把握,从而找到家族冲突的解决路径。通过规范化与专业化的公司治理,实现企业的可持续发展。     

商务交往中“礼貌语言”语用策略

在商务活动中,适时地运用"礼貌用语"可实现良性循环,也是商务交际取得成功的基本保证。交际与文化密不可分,应根据文化的差异与礼貌原则,正确地使用"礼貌用语"。本文从语用学原则入手,分析了商务交往中"礼貌用语"的文化因素,从赞美与恭维、致谢、祝贺、致歉、问候等方面探讨了商务交往中"礼貌用语"的语用策略,以期推动商务关系的发展。     

消费者对公司治理影响的研究

近来的研究表明利益相关者之间的制衡状况对公司治理产生重大的影响,文章在此逻辑基础上研究了消费者对公司治理的影响机制,分析了我国消费者参与公司治理的现状,并且提出了消费者参与公司治理的发展思路。     

ON THE (POLITICAL) ORIGIN OF ‘CORPORATE GOVERNANCE’ SPECIES

Although economies, business practices and living standards have converged since WWII, corporate structures continue to differ among the advanced economies of the world. Looking at the diversity of corporate structures of large-sized firms around the world (and over time) would fascinate Charles Darwin. This work develops a critical review of the literature on political determinants of corporate governance through the Darwinian theory (including some Lamarckian aspects). As Darwin, in his work On the Origin of Species, explicates the diversity of species of tortoises, finches and iguanas of the Galapagos Islands, so Darwinism may contribute in understanding the origin and the persistence of corporate diversity. In particular, this paper takes into account politics-driven variations, their inheritances, and the subsequent selection of advantageous ‘corporate’ attributes.     

Agents, Stakeholders and Corporate Governance in Russian Firms

This paper considers some developments within Russian privatized industrial firms 1992–94 through the lens of Stakeholder-Agency Theory (SAT). Although it has its own shortcomings and weaknesses, SAT, unlike the traditional financial version of Agency Theory, at least contemplates the possibility of a transitional period during which enterprise governance structures can evolve. It is by now widely recognised that in the middle of deep economic crisis, the Russian economy is too volatile for longitudinal studies of formally structured samples of firms over a period of time. In any case, SAT is at a stage of development that has not yet yielded detailed predictions for scientific testing. Yet surveys of recently privatized firms in Russia do provide empirical data away from the origins of SAT, and it is argued that this fresh data suggests new research propositions that can hopefully lead to more theoretical refinement and ultimately testing. At the very least, SAT can be used as a heuristic device, capable of providing a way of looking at complex Russian developments in a structured way. A process of Russian privatization through management–employee buy-outs involving giveaway distributions of shares has secured the compliance of the two main groups of enterprise stakeholders who could have prevented the withdrawal of the State from the governance of industrial enterprises, but has not yet produced a form of corporate governance structure that is likely to survive in the long term without State protection. In the longer term, international competitiveness can only be secured in Russia through investment in new products and processes, and the inadequacies of managers and other employees as sources of investable funds mean that incumbents must generate a more welcoming climate for outside investors. Even after such a short period since privatization and in the middle of a deep economic crisis, some enterprises are already favouring more efficient governance structures in a way consistent with SAT.     

Stock Price Reaction to Non-financial News in European Technology Companies

Drawing upon a series of interviews conducted with leading practitioners and opinion formulators in the social, ethical and environmental audit arena, together with an extensive review of recent literature in the area, this paper offers a critical appraisal of current developments in the newly revitalized social audit movement. We particularly question whether in their enthusiasm for bringing social audit into the mainstream of current business thinking its advocates risk compromising the democratic ideals of the founding fathers of the movement. A particular concern raised is that without real change in corporate governance structures, social audit could become monopolized by consultants and/or corporate management and hence amount to little more than a skilfully controlled public relations exercise.     

国有企业法人治理结构初探

文章认为,国有企业改革是中国经济体制改革的重点、热点和难点,其中关于国有企业法人治理结构问题无论在理论还是在实践上更引人关注,国有企业法人治理结构是国有企业现代化企业制度得以建立的核心,是国有企业组织机构现代化、法治化的关键,而目前我国国有企业法人治理结构存在诸多缺陷,如股权过度集中、董事会运作失范、监事会监督机制弱化、对企业经营者激励不足、约束不力等等,建立科学合理的法人治理结构已经迫在眉睫了。     

Extended external reporting assurance: Current practices and challenges

This paper summarizes the UNCTAD ISAR WBCSD Webinar—Assurance on Sustainability Reports: Current Practices and Challenges, which explored views and practices on assurance of extended external reporting (EER) and identified challenges and potential ways forward. Stakeholders are demanding more accountability, as reflected in increased publication of EER and regulatory developments. EER can play an important role in rebuilding trust by catalyzing corporate focus and disclosure of business‐centric matters material to stakeholders including strategy, business model, governance, and greater transparency on other material non‐financial matters. Relatedly, EER cannot rebuild trust unless disclosures are credible and viewed as credible. Therefore, it is important that assurance, and other credibility enhancing techniques, is developed alongside EER frameworks and takes account of regulatory initiatives. We expand on lessons outlined during the Webinar by highlighting questions posed by participants, providing a historical overview of European regulatory developments (e.g., Directive 2014/95/EU and a forthcoming revision), providing a historical overview of the IAASB’s development of ISAE 3000 and forthcoming guidance on addressing major challenges aimed at supporting EER assurance, and providing an overview of practice‐focused publications addressing EER assurance. We conclude with an assessment of the way forward in regard to possible changes in the EER institutional setting, potential harmonization of EER standards, and the ability to provide reasonable versus limited assurance. Along with our companion paper (Venter and van Eck, 2021, 32), we contribute to the current discussion on EER assurance by providing a comprehensive assessment of the EER assurance landscape.     

Municipal corporatization in Germany and Italy

Abstract

During the last few years, the local government sector in European countries has undergone a number of important changes. Among the various reform initiatives has been the externalization of public services, such as corporatization, contracting-out, public–private partnerships and privatization. The key goal of this article is to describe and explain the evolution of local public services provision in the two selected countries, with a particular focus on ‘corporatization’. The article seeks to draw a picture of the actual municipal landscape with the administrative core and its various corporations. Furthermore, it will discuss the reasons for corporatization trends and their impact on the corporate governance structures of municipalities in Germany and Italy.