Corporate Governance Evaluation and Rating Essay examples

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the legality and ethicality of the corporate governance activities that occurred in an ethics case presented in the text. The paper will provide relevant details regarding the legality of the activities, the criteria by which Sarbanes-Oxley would apply to this case, the ethicality of the activities, whether or not the activities were equitable to internal and external stakeholders, and the next steps representing best interest of all stakeholders.

In order to ensure effective regulation, the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation contains eleven sections that describe responsibilities of corporate boards (Engel, Hayes, & Wang, 2007). In case these responsibilities are not performed, criminal penalties are applied. The need for stricter financial governance laws created the global trend and such countries as Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Israel, Turkey and others also enacted the same type of regulations (Damianides, 2005). Today, the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation continues to play a fundamental role in the process of protecting the rights of investors and supporting a high level of investment attractiveness of the United States and companies that operate in the country. That is why this particular legislation can be considered as extremely benefiting for the national economy as well as investors.

Most people assume that the term ethics refers to the business as a whole. Business ethics apply to the individuals working within businesses. Each individual's action within the company affects the entire company, not just the individual. When any person associated with a business acts ethically and responsibly, it helps the entire organization.

Phenomenal growth of interest in corporate governance has emerged in recent years. The body of literature on the subject has grown markedly in response to successive waves of large corporate failures. Furthermore, there have been numerous attempts to define what constitutes ‘good corporate governance’ and to provide guidelines in order to enhance the quality of corporate governance.

ITC Ltd.’s strategy plan for compliance with the current acceptable standards or norms relative to social responsibility today is well thought out, especially for a company that sells potentially dangerous products, and try to meet and listen to all demands and laws in place since the start of their business. Even though in 2014 a new bill was passed for the majority of companies to build accountability and also have the government looking over the private sector (Banerjee, 2013). “The CSR provision requires affected companies to spend at least 2 percent of their average net profits made in the preceding three years on CSR” (Banerjee, 2013). Even though this bill has caused a lot of uproar for companies, ITC has actually already been

“The Act reviews the powers and structure of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), credit rating organizations, and the relationships between customers and broker-dealers or investment advisers” (David S. Huntington, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, 2010). It provides corporate governance and executive compensation reforms, such as proxy access, chairman and CEO disclosures, broker discretionary voting (Corporate Governance); say-on-pay, say-on-golden parachutes, broker discretionary, compensation committees, executive compensation claw backs (Executive compensation). In order to be active and operational, these provisions require further action by the SEC, the stock exchanges or other regulators except the say-on-pay, say-on-golden parachute and broker discretionary voting requirements. Most of

The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘governance’ as ‘the act, manner, fact or function of governing, sway, control’. ‘To govern’ is ‘to rule with authority’, ’to exercise the function of government’, ‘to sway, rule, influence, regulate, determine’, ‘to conduct oneself in some way; curb, bridle (one’s passions, oneself)’, or ‘to constitute a law for’.

Ethics is the application of one’s personal beliefs and the impact on how a person makes decisions regarding the relationships involving a company. The most common agents that involve a person’s decisions are owners, employees, customers, clients,

In terms of increasing independent directors in corporate governance, SOX directed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to adopt rules that prohibit listings of companies that did not have an audit committee. The audit committee must consist of independent directors, and if the committee is in place but did not have enough independent directors, it must add more independent directors to the board. In addition, at least one of the directors must be a financial expert as defined by the SEC.

Genentech Roche 28 Corporate Governance in Three Economies: Germany, Japan, and the United States C441 10,12 1,3,11 N/A N/A 29 United Technologies Corporation: Running a Global Ethics and Compliance Program C447 11,12

Business ethics encompasses beliefs and values that influence individual and group behavior in an organization. Generally, stakeholders decide these principles, which may

At Paramount the unitary board exists, where according to the textbook, a unitary board is when a company has a single governing body (Tricker 2009). A non- executive director is defined as a person who is not involved in the day to day management of an organisation but rather in business tasks such as strategic planning, and monitoring of executive directors. An executive director tends to be more involved in the managerial aspects of the company.

Business ethics, social, and environmental guidelines frame the expectations of an organization's stakeholders including customers, employees, and regulatory bodies. An organization's ethical guidelines encompass how the organization and its employees embody ethical principles in their dealings, with each other, and other stakeholders. Therefore, Ferrell, Fraedrich, and Farrell (2008) have defined Business ethics as "The principles and standards that guide behavior in the world of business" (p.6). In many situations, individuals must incorporate their personal ethics to match those of the organization's ethical culture. For this reason, business ethics theory indicates that an organization's ethics are evident in its organizational mission and vision (Hummels & Timmer, 2004). This is because the mission and vision determine organizational structure and culture, and thereby organizational and individual behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of external auditing in promoting good corporate governance. The role of auditors has been emphasized after the pass of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as a response to the accounting scandal of Enron. Even though auditors are hired and paid by the company, their role is not to represent or act in favor of the company, but to watch and investigate the company’s financials to protect the public from any material misstatements that can affect their decisions. As part of this role, the auditors assess the level of the company’s adherence to its own code of ethics.

“As a branch of ethics the field of business ethics is interested in how judgments of right and wrong, good and bad, moral obligation and responsibility, rights and duties, and the like, are made and justified” (Gill, David). As a descriptive enterprise, business ethics is an analytical exercise in understanding and explaining how people and businesses make their ethical judgments and decisions. If your business does not carry the proper ethics it cannot thrive. It takes the necessary steps within the business management to enforce these ethics upon their business. The field of business ethics is interested in more than just social and environmental responsibilities but those are certainly critical component areas.