Risk in the widest sense is not new to business. All companies are exposed to traditional business risks: earnings go up and down as a result of such things as changes in the business environment, in the nature of competition, in production technologies, and in factors affecting suppliers. The issue of risk has captured considerable attention from corporate management in recent years, as financial risk management has become a critical corporate activity. Regulators have also responded with new legislation, regulations, and practices that seek to improve corporate governance standards. Required: ‘Risk management is not about elimination of risk’, Discuss.

Risk in the widest sense is not new to business. All companies are exposed to traditional business risks: earnings go up and down as a result of such things as changes in the business environment, in the nature of competition, in production technologies, and in factors affecting suppliers. The issue of risk has captured considerable attention from corporate management in recent years, as financial risk management has become a critical corporate activity. Regulators have also responded with new legislation, regulations, and practices that seek to improve corporate governance standards. Required: ‘Risk management is not about elimination of risk’, Discuss.

Business/Professional Ethics Directors/Executives/Acct

8th Edition

ISBN:9781337485913

Author:BROOKS

Publisher:BROOKS

Chapter2: Ethics & Governance Scandals

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 2Q

See similar textbooks

Similar questions

Consider the dilemma you might someday face if you are the CFO of a company that is struggling to satisfy investors, creditors, stockholders, and internal company managers. All of these financial statement users are clamoring for higher profits and more net assets (also known as equity). If at some point, you suddenly found yourself not meeting the internal and external earnings and equity targets that these parties expect, you would probably search for some way to make the financial statements look better. What if your boss, the CEO, suggested that maybe you should make just one simple journal entry to record all the goods that your company is holding on consignment, as if that significant amount of goods were owned by your company? She might say that this action on your part would fix a lot of problems at once, since adding the consigned goods to merchandise inventory would simultaneously increase net assets on the balance sheet and increase net income on the income statement (since it would decrease cost of goods sold). How would you respond to this request? Write a memo, detailing your willingness or not to embrace this suggestion, giving reasons behind your decision. Remember to exercise diplomacy, even if you must dissent from the opinion of a supervisor. Note that the challenge of the assignment is to keep your integrity intact while also keeping your job, if possible.
Risk management is concerned with understanding and managing the risks that an organization faces in its attempt to achieve its objectives. These risks will often represent threats to the organization – such as the risk of heavy losses or even bankruptcy. Risk management has traditionally associated itself with managing the risks of events that would damage the organization.Organizations face many different types of risks including financial risk, financial risks relate to the financial operation of a business– in essence, the risk of financial loss (and in some cases, financial gain) – and take many different forms.These include currency risks, interest rate risks, credit risks, liquidity risks, cash flow risk, and financing risks. The importance of these risks will vary from one organization to another. A firm that operates internationally will be more exposed to currency risks than a firm that operates only domestically; a bank will typically be more exposed to credit risks than…
Why have there have been so many business scandals mentioned in the media over the past few years? Have companies simply gotten worse, or have people become more sophisticated in identifying improper activity? What is the role of the Accountant? Sarbanes-Oxley, for example, has placed much more responsibility on the CEO and corporate officers? Are there additional laws that should be considered to ensure these scandals do not continue to occur? Should non-executives be held liable for corporate wrongdoing? in 200 words, please.
In well-governed companies, a sense of accountability and ethical leadership create a culture that places organizational ethics above all else. What role does organizational culture play in preventing financial shenanigans from being used to manage earnings?
Commercial Crimes Survey indicated that most of the times, the major commercial crimes are committed by the upper management especially the CEO and/or CFO. (a) Why do senior management overstate or understate business performance? Elaborate your answer. (b) Explain common ways in which business performance can be manipulated through financial statement fraud. Elaborate your answer.
Which of the following best describes the potential impact of business risk on Earnings Quality? Select one: a. Business risk is mostly composed of financial risk factors and it has minimal effect on earnings quality. b. Higher earnings quality is linked with companies more insulated from business risk. While business risk is not primarily a result of management’s discretionary actions, this risk can be lowered by skillful management strategies.' c. A higher level of earnings quality can be observed in the industries with high business risk, because higher risk means higher returns d. For managing business risk, the managers almost have no discretion, therefore business risk is not directly or indirectly related to earnings quality.
Companies of all sizes try to reduce business risks, create disaster recovery plans, and also purchase insurance for what they cannot completely control. Therefore, the business risk is the risk that: Select one: a.The auditor will give an inappropriate auditor’s opinion when the financial report is materially misstated b.The entity’s business objectives will not be attained due to the external and internal environment affecting the entity and the industry in which it operates. c. An error will occur given the environmental characteristics of the account balance. d.The auditor will be exposed to loss to their professional practice from litigation or adverse publicity arising in connection with an audit.
The SEC is trying to get companies to notify the investment community more quickly when a "material change" will affect their forthcoming financial results. In what sense might a financial manager be seen as "more ethical" if he or she follows this directive and issues a press release indicating that sales will not be as high as previously anticipated? A manager at a "Check Into Cash" business (see Focus on Ethics box on page 192) defends his business practice as simply "charging what the market will bear." "After all," says the manager, "we don't force people to come in the door." How would you respond to this ethical defense of the payday-advance business? Bond rating agencies have invested significant sums of money in an effort to determine which quantitative and nonquantitative factors best predict bond defaults. Furthermore, some of the raters invest time and money to meet privately with corporate personnel to get nonpublic information that is used in assigning the issue's bond…
Within the context of financial management, it is important that organizations attempt to align their managers' interests with that of the shareholders. In Chapter 16, Berk and DeMarzo (2020) provide several examples of agency conflict or a conflict between the owners and the management of a firm. Examples of these are: (a) at times managers will take on less (greater) risk than they would if they were the owners of the firm and (b) due to the separation of ownership and control managers are able to entrench themselves within firms and have little risk of being replaced. Provide a few examples of mechanisms that organizations could use to align the interests of both the owners of the firm and its managers.
The SEC is trying to get companies to notify the investment community more quickly when a "material change" will affect their forthcoming financial results. In what sense might a financial manager be seen as "more ethical" if he or she follows this directive and issues a press release indicating that sales will not be as high as previously anticipated?
In recent years, globalization of business and factors such as technological disruption, tax reform, trade policies, and changing demographics in the workforce cause uncertainty and volatility in stock and bond markets. Why might it be important for you to consider current economic and other events as part of planning an audit? (Select all that apply.) Question content area bottom Part 1 A. Profitability, internal controls, and incentives and opportunities to misreport can all change rapidly in the current environment, making it imperative that the auditor understand these factors in addition to the client's industry and operating environment. To develop effective audit plans, auditors must have the expertise to assess external environment risks. B. Volatility in stock and bond markets can create uncertainty about the future profitability of certain industries and/or specific companies. This could ultimately affect the entity's ability to…
Since risks, such as credit, liquidity, default, technological, and legal risks, among others, may affect the financial operations of the business or organizations. Laws are created to enfore financial regulations. In financial markets, these laws, rules and regulations control the following drivers: competitiveness, market behavior, consistency and stability. Stability. Market Stability is important. Given that market behavior is dependent on a lot of factors, the risk is very high., Most of the players failed to survive because their ability to forecast and to mitigate the market risk. In the financial market, the impact of financial risk is something that the regulatory environment should consider. The regulation must be able to protect the interest of the clients as well as the companies to enable their corporate sustainability. QUESTION: Explain further what "stability" means. How do laws control stability in financial markets? Explain. Then identify the risks that arise from…