Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Are All Risks Created Equal? Rethinking The Distinction Between Legal And Business Risk In Corporate Law, Adi Libson, Gideon Parchomovsky

All Faculty Scholarship

Should corporate legal risk be treated similarly to corporate business risks? Currently, the law draws a clear-cut distinction between the two sources of risk, permitting the latter type of risk and banning the former. As a result, fiduciaries are shielded from personal liability in the case of business risk and are entirely exposed to civil and criminal liability that arises from legal risk-taking. As corporate law theorists have underscored, the differential treatment of business and legal risk is highly problematic from the perspective of firms and shareholders. To begin with, legal risk cannot be completely averted or eliminated. More importantly, …

Theranos: Case Study And Examination Of The Fraud Triangle, Abbey Jennings

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Fraud is a serious issue which carries significant implications. Fraud committed by top level managers is particularly grievous, as it ripples through a firm, harming the company’s shareholders, employees, and credibility, while posing a threat to individuals and society (Zahra, et al.). A common framework in auditing, the fraud triangle, outlines three factors that if present, increase the risk or enable fraud to occur. The three factors are incentive, opportunity, and rationalization to commit fraud (Barlow).

In 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of a supposedly groundbreaking health tech company, Theranos, with what …

Reversing The Fortunes Of Active Funds, Adi Libson, Gideon Parchomovsky

All Faculty Scholarship

In 2019, for the first time in the history of U.S. capital markets, passive funds surpassed active funds in terms of total assets under management. The continuous growth of passive funds at the expense of active funds is a genuine cause for concern. Active funds monitor the management and partake of decision-making in their portfolio companies. Furthermore, they improve price efficiency and managerial performance by engaging in informed trading. The buy/sell decisions of active funds provide other market participants reliable information about the quality of firms. The cost of active investing is significant and it is exclusively borne by active …

You Can Run But You Can’T Hide: The Advance Of Shareholder Activism, Kendall Greenberg

CMC Senior Theses

Shareholder activism has exploded in popularity since the turn of the century, due in large part to impressive relative returns generated by its major participants. The result has thus been a surge in assets invested in the category, to in excess of $170 billion today up from less than $3 billion in 2000 (Inglis 2015; Romito 2015). This influx of capital, in absolute dollars and pace of growth, has caused many to wonder whether activists truly create shareholder value and, if so, if the value generated is sustainable. Numerous studies of activist interventions prior to 2009 reveal significant stock price …

Good Corporate Governance: The Role Of The Accountant, Professor Ben C Osisioma

Prof Ben Chuka Osisioma

Corporate governance deals with the mechanism by which stakeholders of a company exercise control over corporate managers and provide overall direction to the firm, such that stakeholders’ interests are protected. In such a situation, the firm operates more responsibly and profitably, relations are enhanced between the firm and all stakeholders - shareholders, policyholders, employees, suppliers and society at large - the quality of executive and non-executive directors is improved, the firm thinks long-term, information needs of all stakeholders are satisfied, and executive management is monitored properly in the interest of shareholders. The role of the accountant in this setting, is …

Facilitating Successful Failures, Michelle M. Harner, Jamie Marincic Griffin

Michelle M. Harner

Approximately 80,000 businesses fail each year in the United States. This article presents an original empirical study of over 400 business restructuring professionals focused on a critical, arguably contributing factor to these failures—the conduct of boards of directors and management. Anecdotal evidence suggests that management of distressed companies often bury their heads in the sand until it is too late to remedy the companies’ problems, a phenomenon commonly called “ostrich syndrome.” The data confirm this behavior, show a prevalent use of loss framing, and suggest trends consistent with prospect theory. The article draws on these data and behavioral economics to …

Il Comitato Per Il Controllo Interno E Per La Revisione Contabile Introdotto Dall’Art. 19 Del D.Lgs. 39/2010: Riflessioni In Sede Di Prima Istituzione Alla Luce Delle Indicazioni Dell’Unione Europea, Claudio Sottoriva

Claudio Sottoriva

L’esperienza nazionale in tema di costituzione di “comitati” interni all’organo amministrativo si arricchisce, alla luce del D.Lgs. 39/2010, del comitato per il controllo interno e per la revisione contabile ai sensi dell’art. 19 dello stesso. Facendo riferimento alla realtà italiana ed europea in generale si evidenzia la progressiva sperimentazione di formule compositive degli organi amministrativi e di controllo finalizzate ad una loro maggiore specializzazione secondo quanto previsto dai principali codici di autodisciplina (soprattutto avuto riguardo alle società aventi titoli negoziati in mercati regolamentati). Il comitato ex art. 19 del D.Lgs. 39/2010 è previsto per tutti gli enti di interesse nazionale …

Beyond The Dichotomous Worlds Hypothesis: Towards A Plurality Of Corporate Governance Logics, Jordan Otten

Jordan Otten

The dichotomous worlds hypothesis holds that corporate governance systems worldwide are either based on the Anglo-American shareholder model or the Eurasian stakeholder model. We suggest a more fine-grained classification, based on five corporate governance logics –socially constructed, historical patterns of material practices, assumptions, values, beliefs, and rules by which all parties involved in economic productive activities structure their material interdependencies and provide meaning to the social reality of corporate life. These logics are discovered through a content analysis of the corporate governance reform codes of 38 countries.