Chapter 15 - Emerging issues in corporate governance. After completing this chapter, students will be able to: Understand emerging issues and the challenges, opportunities, and improvement they present to corporate governance, realize the importance of maintaining investor confidence worldwide, understand the initiatives being taken toward convergence in corporate governance,....
Emerging Issues in Corporate Governance Chapter XV Chapter Objectives: • Understand emerging issues and the challenges, opportunities, and improvement they present to corporate governance • Realize the importance of maintaining investor confidence worldwide • Understand the initiatives being taken toward convergence in corporate governance • Recognize the importance of SEE performance • Understand the emerging shareholder issues pertaining to the nomination process, voting system, proxy statements, and regulations, and possible improvements to these processes • Illustrate the challenges to director independence, nomination, compensation, composition, and evaluation, and how those challenges can be met • Show the challenges that arise from unresolved financial reporting issues, including financial restatements, enhanced business reporting, forward-looking financial reports, and stock option accounting, and how they can be addressed • Understand antifraud programs and controls designed to strengthen the reliability of financial reports • Define the emerging audit issues in the post-SOX era and solutions to these issues Key Terms Basel Committee for Banking Supervision Corporate social responsibility (CSR) Corporate sustainability reporting Enhanced business reporting (EBR) Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Governance Metrics International (GMI) International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) International Monetary Fund Key performance indicators (KPIs) Investor Confidence and Global Financial Markets Investor confidence in the global financial markets is the key driver of economic growth, global competition, and financial stability Generally speaking, investors are considered to be confident when stock prices are on an upward trend and the news about future stock performance is optimistic And the Main TASK is to restore investors confidence Many of these recommendations such as convergence to IFRS and corporate codes of ethics have already been implemented or are in the process of being implemented Global Financial Markets The speed with which financial transactions can be conducted and money can be moved around the world encourages regulators to establish a global financial infrastructure Different types of corporate governance structure are exposed to different financial misconduct and scandals For example, the dispersed ownership system of governance in the United States is prone to earnings management schemes (e.g., Enron, WorldCom), whereas concentrated ownership systems are more vulnerable to the appropriation of private benefits of control (e.g., Parmalat) COVERGENCE needed !!!!! Corporate Governance Reporting The framework of corporate governance reporting and assurance that can be used is the AA 1000 Framework and its Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, which promote accountability reports Corporate governance reporting changes one-dimensional financial reporting to multidimensional bottom lines MBL reporting goes one step beyond the corporate sustainability reporting prepared according to the guidelines of the GRI The GRI focuses on the three sustainability dimensions of SEE performance, whereas corporate governance reporting emphasizes multidimensional sustainability of governance, economic, ethical, social, and environmental performance Accountability: The New Business Imperative Accountability is the cornerstone of corporate governance in continuously monitoring best practices and being accountable to shareholders Although the primary focus and goal of accountability reporting in the foreseeable future will continue to be an economic issue to create sustainable long-term shareholder value, the issues of SEE performance of companies will gain momentum Social, Environmental, and Ethics Performance Corporate Social Responsibility Total assets managed by a socially responsible investing (SRI) portfolio have increased more than fiftyfold in the past two decades in the United States, and an increasing number of mutual funds fall under the SRI definition Environmental Performance Environmental matters, particularly climate change, are receiving a considerable amount of attention from the SRI community Institutional investors, including the nation’s largest public pension plans such as CalPERS and CalSTRS have traditionally supported initiatives to ensure that companies in their portfolios provide adequate disclosures of their environmental liabilities Social, Environmental, and Ethics Performance Ethics Performance The established codes of conduct and ethics programs address the following: Avoidance and resolution of conflicts of interest between the company and employees Compliance with all applicable laws, rules, regulations, standards, and policies Emphasis on customer relations to enhance the company’s reputation Proper use of confidential information Encouragement of whistleblowers to reveal dishonesty and wrongdoings Shareholder Challenging Issues There are several challenging shareholders issues : Nomination process Not all shareholders have a full access to the proxy statements and existing SEC rules allow companies to reject any proposal pertaining to director election Voting System The prevailing plurality voting system also makes it difficult for shareholders to monitor their companies Proxy Statements Shareholders of public companies with dispersed ownership have few, if any, incentives or opportunities to monitor their company’s business affairs and managerial activities To address those issues SEC has adopted a few initiatives Challenges Facing Directors Roles of boards are expanding to both advisory and oversight functions Several prevailing challenges facing directors remain unresolved: (1) director accountability and personal liability, (2) the separation of chair and CEO roles, (3) director stock ownership, (4) board diversity, (5) director interlocks, (6) director performance scorecard, (7) rotation of audit committee members Sox Compliance Challenges It has been argued that the emerging corporate governance reforms, including SOX, SEC related implementation rules, and listing standards, have caused smaller companies to (1) incur compliance costs that are disproportionate to the induced incremental benefits, and (2) divert the attention of company management away from strategic decisions and operational activities To address those concern COSO in 2005 issued “Guidance for Smaller Public Companies Reporting on Internal Control over Financial Reporting.” The new guidance is intended to assist small companies to implement, assess, and report on ICFR in compliance with Section 404 of SOX and PCAOB AS No Sox Compliance Challenges The MAIN CHALLENGE is the cost of compliance Some of rules, for example, rules concerning internal controls of Section 404, cost at least one hundred times more than what was originally estimated by the SEC (e.g., estimated cost of $91,000 per company to the first-year actual cost of, on average, $9.8 million) Financial Reporting Challenges Financial restatements The persistence of financial restatements adversely affects investor confidence The substantial decline in the number of restatements by large public companies suggests that Section 404 is working well in reducing the number of financial restatements and thus improving financial reporting quality Enhanced Business Reporting Enhanced business reporting (EBR) focusing on both financial and nonfinancial information about current and future KPIs is suggested as an alternative to improve the quality, transparency, and integrity of financial reporting Stock Options Accounting The two pricing models commonly used in determining the real value of a stock option are Black-Scholes and indexing of similar publicly traded companies the current pricing models are being criticized for not properly determining the value of stock options Financial Reporting Challenges (Cont) Antifraud Program and Practices (SOX Sections 302, 404, and 906, PCAOB AS No 2, PCAOB’s new AS No 5, discovered fraud should be reported to ICFR ) An effective antifraud program should address corporate culture, control structure, and fraud procedures: Corporate culture—Corporate culture should create an environment that sets an appropriate tone at the top Control structure—An effective control structure should eliminate opportunities for individuals to engage in fraudulent activities Antifraud procedures—Adequate fraud procedures should be developed and performed to ensure prevention and detection of potential fraud Global Financial Reporting Standards We should expect significant changes in financial reporting as both the FASB and IASB are moving toward convergence in their standards, and the SEC is promoting the idea of giving U.S companies the choice between U.S GAAP and IFRS compliance in their filings with the SEC The SEC is expected to remove the reconciliation requirement for international firms traded on U.S exchanges to file using IFRS by 2009 The move by the SEC can be regarded by many as the first step by the SEC to eventually allow listed companies to use IFRS in place of U.S GAAP Emerging Auditing Issues The emerging auditing issues in the post-SOX period are: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) auditor independence, auditor changes, engagement letters, audit failure, integrated audit approach, concentration of and competition in public accounting firms, electronic financial reporting and continuous auditing, confirmations, audit report, auditor liability Conclusion Investor confidence in the global financial markets is the key driver of economic growth, global competition, and financial stability worldwide • U.S regulators and their counterparts in Europe and on other continents should work together to assess the feasibility of convergence to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity of the global capital markets and prevent a global crisis that would eventually affect the economy and financial markets of countries worldwide • Corporate governance reporting should assist companies to restore investor confidence and public trust in governance, economic, ethical, social, and environmental performance • The higher the shareholdings of independent directors, the more incentives for them to monitor management activities to protect their own interests as well as the interests of other shareholders • Conclusion Companies should integrate SOX compliance process into their corporate governance structure, risk and compliance process, internal controls, financial reports, and audit activities • The risk-based approach for assessing and auditing ICFR has been suggested for public companies, particularly for smaller companies using the COSO internal control framework • Antifraud prevention and detection controls and assessments addressed by SOX, SEC rules, and PCAOB auditing standards are only to relevant financial statement fraud • Several initiatives are taken toward an ultimate convergence of both accounting and auditing standards • .. .Chapter Objectives: • Understand emerging issues and the challenges, opportunities, and improvement they present to corporate governance • Realize the importance... Parmalat) COVERGENCE needed !!!!! Corporate Governance Reporting The framework of corporate governance reporting and assurance that can be used is the AA 1000 Framework and its Global Reporting Initiative... process into their corporate governance structure, risk and compliance process, internal controls, financial reports, and audit activities • The risk-based approach for assessing and auditing ICFR