Positioning codes of ethics on international corporations' websites: A six-year longitudinal study

This research examines the level of international website disclosures of corporate codes of ethics during the period of July 2002 and July 2003, which surrounds the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in United States. We also gathered similar data from these corporations' websites in April of 2006 through April of 2008 (i.e., three through five years after the effective date of SOX). In April of 2006 (2007 and 2008), 30 (34 and 36) of the 43 corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) had readily available codes. While not required to have their codes on their corporate websites, 14 (18 and 23) of the 49 corporations that were not listed on the NYSE also had readily available codes. Our research also indicates that corporations headquartered in Europe were more likely to have readily available codes of ethics than corporations headquartered in the Pacific region in 2006 and 2007 but not in 2008.     

Management's Materiality Criteria of Internal Control Weaknesses and Corporate Fraud: Evidence from China

This paper investigates the determinants and consequence of Chinese listed companies' first-time decisions on materiality criteria for internal control weaknesses, which have been observable beginning from the 2011 annual report. Although pretax income is most commonly used as the benchmark for materiality, revenue is also used as a popular alternative. Revenue is more susceptible to manipulation, as it has a much larger financial amount than pretax income. We argue that unethical managers prefer not to disclose material weaknesses by manipulating the materiality criteria to justify non-disclosure of a potentially material weakness. Consistent with this opportunistic incentive, we find that when companies committed fraud in the previous year that remains undetected, their management is more likely to use revenue (rather than pretax income) as the first-time benchmark and to set a higher revenue-based materiality threshold as well. Moreover, once the materiality metrics are set, the first-time revenue-based materiality threshold is significantly and positively associated with subsequent incidence of corporate fraud, which suggests that setting deviant and loose materiality metrics leaves room for the management to engage in future misconduct.     

The real effects of corporate fraud: evidence from class action lawsuits

Using a sample of lawsuit firms from 1996 to 2009, this study examines whether fraud revelation through shareholder class action affects corporate financing and investment policies. We predict that revelation of fraud damages defendant firms' reputation and undermines credibility of their financial disclosure. As a result, such firms experience difficulty in financing and reduce investment accordingly. Consistent with our prediction, we find that fraud‐committing firms experience a decline in total financing (total investment) by 1.5 per cent (0.8 per cent) of total assets after fraud revelation. Difference‐in‐differences analyses reinforce our main findings. The impact is more pronounced for firms with lower inherent fraud incidence.     

Normal science and paradigmatic shifts: political and regulatory strategies to develop investor protection in the aftermath of crisis

The scale of the Global Financial Crisis prompted initial systematic reflection by leading politicians from Anglo‐Saxon countries. One commonality linked the analyses put forward by Gordon Brown (UK), Barack Obama (USA) and Kevin Rudd (Australia): the crisis had roots in ethical failure. The interlinked failure of structure and agency necessitated fundamental change in the theory and practice of the regulation of capital markets. The international regulatory reform agenda has, however, focused on the technical requirements of the former and largely ignored the latter. The paper argues that this is not only a mistake. It reflects the ongoing strength of the financial services industry to determine the ideational, ideological and institutional battleground.     

Understanding the police response to fraud: the challenges in configuring a response to a low-priority crime on the rise

ABSTRACT

Previous research has demonstrated the comparative lack of priority fraud receives from government and law enforcement in the UK compared to other serious offences, as well as shortcomings in the overall approach to investigation. This paper examines the current state of affairs in the light of changes aimed at addressing these limitations. It incorporates findings from a national survey of police forces, as well as a local survey of police personnel in three forces supplemented by interviews. The findings suggest that the situation has become more complicated. Many police officers interviewed did not feel that the police response in their own area was effective, and that their colleagues often lacked the appropriate skill sets needed. Moreover, forces were not confident they were recruiting the right people to tackle fraud. The paper has important lessons for policing internationally.     

Organisations and the sixth wave: Are ethics transforming our economies in the coming decades?

The Kondratieff wave theory describes how societies develop in socio-economic waves of 40–60 years. The theory postulates a set of technologies and practices that are unique to each wave. Although a challenge of the Kondratieff wave theory is great variance in interpretations about the timing of the waves among scholars, based on several analyses we suggest that with the financial crisis of 2008, and resulting economic instability, we are experiencing the end of the fifth wave and the emergence of the sixth.We take as our starting point the global trends, particularly those of scarcity and the rising cost of commodities such as energy and raw materials that have led to a widely shared hypothesis that resource productivity will be the key driver of technology and economic growth in the next wave. Socially, this driver will be fortified by growing environmental concerns since climate change and the destruction of natural ecosystems seem inevitably to proceed. Both these sources are boosting a generation of new companies and behaviour.In this article our focus is to evaluate weak signals that point to possible directions for the future of organisational practices in the sixth Kondratieff wave. We ask what will be the effects of the changing socio-technical landscape on the working life and organisational culture. The K-waves theory explains how certain ways of organising that have so far developed in the fringes of organisational culture may move into the mainstream, as a product of the systemic restructuring that has often accompanied the new K-wave.We present our findings from a workshop with representatives of five different resource efficiency oriented organisations in the Silicon Valley area. Based on the data we have gathered through the workshop and complementing interviews, we show how organisations base their considerations about the future to a surprisingly large extent on ethical arguments. Our material also includes a case that shows that this ethical approach is not self-evidently related to the aim for resource efficiency.We evaluate our results in the Future Sign – framework presented by Hiltunen. The signals we have gathered are combined with corporate shared value – thinking, and both are interpreted through the Kondratieff – wave theory. Based on our sample of five cases, along with a framework that supports our interpretation, we suggest the ethical motivations as backbone of organisations is a relatively strong future sign that has potential for strengthening in the sixth wave context.     

基于BP神经网络的保险欺诈识别研究——以中国机动车保险索赔为例

当前保险欺诈在国内外呈现蔓延态势,尤其体现在机动车保险领域,欺诈识别已成为保险欺诈研究的核心内容.目前保险欺诈识别有统计回归和神经网络两大类方法,这两种方法在指导思想和识别流程上各有优缺.本文基于我国财产保险公司车险索赔样本数据,检验BP神经网络在我国保险欺诈识别中的有效性;同时为了尝试统计回归和神经网络的有效融合,本...     

舞弊治理：基于上市公司财务舞弊特征的分析

选取2003～2007年度5645家沪深两地上市公司为样本,首先对其中209家舞弊公司财务舞弊的影响因素做统计分析,明晰上市公司财务舞弊的特征;然后,根据舞弊公司不同特征进一步实证检验,得出大规模事务所的选择、股权集中度、公司规模与财务舞弊负相关,独立董事比例与财务舞弊成\"U\"型关系,但没有发现代表财务状况指标净资产收益率的显著性影响,究其原因,发现舞弊公司存在虚增利润以外的其他更多隐性盈余操纵手段.     

上市公司财务报告舞弊的识别——基于三角形理论的实证研究

为构建财务报告舞弊识别模型,本文选取2000—2009年发生财务报告舞弊的A股上市公司及其配对非舞弊公司为研究对象,利用配对样本t检验、Wilcoxon符号秩检验、Logistic回归,对描述三角形理论的25个指标研究发现,两类公司之间营业利润—经营现金流量、外部董事比例等指标描述的压力和机会因素存在显著差异;各指标与舞弊可能性的相关关系表明,压力越大、机会越多,舞弊可能性越大。由此建立的识别模型正确识别率达到93.7%,有助于人们识别舞弊,帮助上市公司发现舞弊根源。     

公司社会责任履行对财务业绩的影响--基于发布企业社会责任报告下的研究

文章以2011～2012年披露企业社会责任报告的486家上市公司为样本,运用OLS回归方法,实证检验上市公司在发布企业社会责任报告的情况下,公司社会责任对财务业绩的影响。研究结果表明：上市公司多次发布企业社会责任报告能够促进公司财务业绩;公司履行社会责任能够直接促进公司财务业绩的提高;上市公司履行社会责任可以通过发布企业社会责任报告提高公司财务业绩。