...Project governance is the management framework within which project decisions are made. Project governance is a critical element of any project since while the accountabilities and responsibilities associated with an organisation’s business as usual activities are laid down in their organisational governance arrangements, seldom does an equivalent framework exist to govern the development of project’s capital investments ( Sharma, Stone and Ekinci 2009 ). Project Governance extends the principle of Governance into both the management of individual projects via Governance structures, and the management of projects at the business level, for example via Business Reviews of Projects. Today, many organisations are developing models for ‘Project Governance Structures', which can be different to a traditional Organisation Structure in that it defines accountabilities and responsibilities for strategic decision-making across the project ( Crawford, Cooke-Davies, Hobbs, Labuschagne, Remington and Chen 2008 ). This can be particularly useful to project management processes such as change control and strategic decision-making. The decision making framework of the project governance is supported by three pillars ( Klakegg, Williams, Magnussen and Glasspool 2008 ) namely: structure, people and information. 1. Structure: This refers to the governance committee structure. As well as there being a Project Board or Project Steering Committee, the broader governance environment may include...
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...IT Governance A summary of “Ten Principles of IT Governance” (2004, Peter Weill, Jeanne W. Ross) and “IT Governance Framework” (2005, Craig Symons) Coming up with new governance mechanisms and policies should not be reactive (patching up problems), but proactive – using the enterprise’s objectives and performance goals as a basis Mature business governance processes can be used for IT governance Governance redesigns should be undertaken only when strategy is being revised, in such cases IT governance can be used for leveraging the strategic transformation CIO’s and senior management’s involvement in IT governance is crucial for its success, because it ensures better alignment of IT with strategy The exception-handling process must be clearly defined, as short as possible and should enable and encourage organizational learning. The owner of the IT governance must be familiar with all aspects of the enterprise (not only IT) and have credibility with all business leaders. The owner of the IT governance must be made also responsible for its performance A layered structure is often necessary for IT governance (possible layers are: enterprise-wide IT governance – driven by enterprise-wide strategies and goals and IT governance at division and business unit levels) The effectiveness of IT governance is severely affected by the effectiveness of its communication and transparency Coordination in the governance of the all six assets, one of which is IT, is critical for maximizing the...
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...Universite Abstract: It is estimated that donors commit between US$ 800 million and US$ 1 billion to microfinance per year. This paper analyses the management of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and its relationship with donors’ subsidies. The results show that the level of subsidies granted per year is related to the management quality but not the subsidies divided by the gross loan portfolio or the total equity. Well-managed MFIs are larger and regulated organisations but not significantly older. The organisational structure or the experience of the MFI however does not play a role in determining its financial effectiveness, except for cooperatives. Copyright # 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Keywords: microfinance; subsidies; management; governance; nonprofit JEL Classification: L31; M54; O16; Q14 1 INTRODUCTION Formal financial institutions have neglected a large part of developing country populations. Considered as high-risk clients, the poor have been denied access to financial services. Microfinance has been praised during the last twenty years as a new development policy tool serving people who have been excluded from the formal banking system. The financial performances of microfinance institutions (MFIs) have been largely highlighted by the international community (Armendariz de Aghion, 1999; Murduch, ´ 1999a,b; Tucker, 2001; Stephens, 2005; Gutierrez-Nieto and Serrano-Cinca, 2007; Hudon and Lietaer, 2007; Hermes and Lensink, 2007; Vanroose, 2008). However, little research...
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...INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ON AUDITING 560 SUBSEQUENT EVENTS (Effective for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or after December 15, 2009) CONTENTS Paragraph Introduction Scope of this ISA ...................................................................................... Subsequent Events .................................................................................... Effective Date ........................................................................................... Objectives ................................................................................................ Definitions ................................................................................................ Requirements Events Occurring between the Date of the Financial Statements and the Date of the Auditor’s Report ........................................................ Facts Which Become Known to the Auditor after the Date of the Auditor’s Report but before the Date the Financial Statements are Issued ........................................................................................... Facts Which Become Known to the Auditor after the Financial Statements Have Been Issued ............................................................ Application and Other Explanatory Material Scope of this ISA ...................................................................................... Definitions .........................................................................
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...The Investor Relations Society ‘Determinant Factors for Best Investor Relations’ 1. Best Communication of strategy, performance and key performance indicators (KPIs) in the annual report |Business and financial review |Best Practice | |requirements | | |1. ‘a fair review of the company’s |Sensible and understandable explanation of the company’s business. | |business’ |Balanced perspective and clear statement of the company’s strategy. | | |Description of the company’s markets, including regulatory environment and competitive position. | |2.‘the development and performance |Commentary related to the group strategy and progress in achieving objectives. | |of the company’s business during the|Trade or channel relations (where applicable), e.g. service levels, distribution, display, trade customer satisfaction. | |financial year’ |Innovation, e.g. number of new products, new products' revenue and margin as share of total, R&D investment. | | ...
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...TRANPARENCY IN GOVERNANCE IS THE ULTIMATE KEY TO REFORMS INTRODUCTION India is a developing country. There have been innumerable barriers addressed so far which require the expansion of reforms in India. The barriers are corruption, illiteracy, unemployment, poverty, culture, religion, caste, etc. In such diverse environments, it is vital to have an effective and tolerant government and sustain development. Indians are well aware of good governance but are curtailed by these innumerable barriers. The closed approach caused by these barriers is the root cause for corruption in the country. India ranks very low in the Transparency index and is known for high levels of corruption. BARRIERS Slowdown in the growth of GDP , a virtual stagnation in industrial production, and the risk of loosing the investments grade rating by international rating agencies like Standard and Poor’s has rattled the government and industry. The policy makers are favoring the introduction of FDI in service sectors like retail, insurance as a means to reverse the slowdown in the economy. But sustained growth is possible only if there is a healthy manufacturing sector. In the last years India has hardly invested in the physical infrastructure which has hampered the development of manufacturing sector increasing the costs of transportation. India’s overdependence on the service sector and slow growth in manufacturing has been the reason for deceleration in the pace of economy. The presence of corruption...
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...technical-economic mechanisms (Coe, Dicken and Hess, 2008). More than this oversimplified conceptual framework, Levy (2008) argues GPN as ‘simultaneously economic and political phenomena . . . organizational fields in which actors struggle over the construction of economic relationships, governance structures, institutional rules and norms, and discursive frames . . . GPNs thus exist within the ‘‘transnational space’’ that is constituted and structured by transnational elites, institutions, and ideologies’. In Levy’s theory, we can find out that more than a economic process of productions, GPNs is also a ‘social’ and ‘cultural’ phenomena in which the geographically differentiated political and social cultural circumstance are also shaped (Coe, Dicken and Hess, 2008). Considering the consumer electronic industry in particular, what we can see now is that numerous branded firms has evolved as the leading force, such as Apple, Microsoft and HP. Meanwhile, amount of emerging economies became to participate into this industry more and more, therefore turning GPNs into a more complex concept in current globalisation. Since then, there are increasing considerations and discussion related to governance of GPNs, trying to...
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...Global Technology Audit Guide Auditing IT Governance Global Technology Audit Guide (GTAG®) 17 Auditing IT Governance July 2012 GTAG — Table of Contents Executive Summary......................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Introduction................................................................................................................................................ 2 2. IT Governance Risks................................................................................................................................... 7 3. Aligning the Organization and IT — Key Considerations................................................................ 12 4. The Role of Internal Audit in IT Governance............................................................................ 15 Conclusion....................................................................................................................................................... 18 Authors and Reviewers.............................................................................................................................. 18 Appendix — IT Governance Risk Assessment/Engagement Planning Considerations............................................. 19 iv GTAG — Executive Summary Executive Summary To support the heightened importance of IT governance and the mandatory nature of the International Standards for the Professional...
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...Agency Theory Agency theory identifies the agency relationship where one party, the principal, delegates work to another party, the agent who performs that work. In the context of corporation, the agents are the managers and the principals are the shareholders. Agency theory as related to the corporation is set in the context of the separation of ownership and control as described in the work of Berle and Means (1932) Agency relationship Agency relationship is defined by Jensen & Meckling (1976) as a contract under which one or more persons (the principal(s)) engage another person (the agent) to perform some service on their behalf which involves delegating some decision making authority to the agent. If both parties to the relationship are utility maximizes there is good reason to believe that the agent will not always act in the best interests of the principal. Agency cost Agency cost is the principal can limit divergences from his interest by establishing appropriate incentives for the agent and by incurring monitoring costs designed to limit the aberrant activities of the agent. In addition, in some situations it will pay the agent to expand resources to guarantee that he will not take certain actions which would harm the principal or to ensure that the principal will be compensated if he does take such actions. However, it is generally impossible for the principal or the agent at zero cost to ensure that the principal will be make optimal decisions from the principal’s...
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...March 2011 Changing the agenda – The role of corporate governance and risk management in financial regulatory reform As regulators and policymakers continue their efforts to find the best way to prevent a repetition of the financial crisis that almost engulfed the world economy, re-evaluating how corporate governance and risk management can make the financial system more secure has become a crucial question. Clifford Chance organised three round-table debates between 2009-2010 to assess this issue. With financial regulatory reform continuing to dominate the global political agenda, Clifford Chance has decided to publish a summary of these discussions as part of its commitment to promoting a balanced and informed analysis of the challenges that lie ahead. Much has been written and spoken about the causes of the financial crisis. Most people accept it is time to learn the lessons and move on. While the need to reform the banking and the financial services sector is beyond question, there is a tension between the desire to ‘get it right’ and the intense pressure for politicians and regulators to act quickly and decisively. In the ensuing debate over regulation and reform, the real issues of corporate governance and risk management have been largely obscured by the remuneration question. “There are some conflicting imperatives,” said Michael Bray, a partner in Clifford Chance’s London office. “We still have a long way to go.” Among a host of challenges facing the global financial...
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...Agency theory is controversial and essential theory in accounting, economic and finance sphere. The theory raises a problem of agency relationship, in which, cooperating parties- principal and agent, have different goals and division of work. Agency theory arises two problems: the difficulty of verifying what the agent is actually doing, and the conflict between goals and desires of the principal and agent (Eisenhardt, 1989). Agency theory is based on two different approaches: positivist agency theory and the principal-agent research. The first one describes the governance mechanism that limits the selfish behavior of the agent. Positivist agency theory identifies two propositions including governance system. If the contract between the principal and the agent is based on outcomes, there is a high probability that the agent will act in the interest of the principal. In addition if the principal has information to verify behavior of the agent, then the agent will act in the interest of the principal. The second one, principal-agent stream, contains more testable implications than the positivist theory. There are several things like goal conflict, easily measurable outcome, and the assumption that the agent is more risk averse than the principal, that are assumed in principal-agent research. The main difference between these two theories is that the positivist agency theory identifies certain contract alternatives and principal-agent theory indicates which contracts are the...
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...The Shell Global Scenarios to 2025 The future business environment: trends, trade-offs and choices © Shell International Limited (SIL), 2005. Permission should be sought from SIL before any part of this publication is reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any other means. Agreement will normally be given, provided that the source is acknowledged. The information contained in this publication is, to the best of our knowledge, true and accurate although the forward looking statements herein are by their nature subject to risk factors which may affect the outcome of the matters covered. Opinions from independent experts are presented as their own views in separate inserts with their approval. None of Shell International The companies in which Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and The “Shell” Transport and Trading Company, p.l.c. directly or indirectly own investments are separate and distinct entities. The expressions “Royal Dutch/Shell Group” and “Group” are used to refer to the companies of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group as a whole. The words “Shell”, “we”, “us” and “our” are used in some places to refer to the Group and in others to an individual Shell company or companies where no particular purpose is served by identifying the specific company or companies. Limited, its affiliates and their respective officers, employees and agents represents the accuracy or completeness of the information set forth herein and none of the foregoing shall be liable for...
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...Global Technology Audit Guide Auditing IT Governance Global Technology Audit Guide (GTAG®) 17 Auditing IT Governance July 2012 GTAG — Table of Contents Executive Summary......................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Introduction................................................................................................................................................ 2 2. IT Governance Risks................................................................................................................................... 7 3. Aligning the Organization and IT — Key Considerations................................................................ 12 4. The Role of Internal Audit in IT Governance............................................................................ 15 Conclusion....................................................................................................................................................... 18 Authors and Reviewers.............................................................................................................................. 18 Appendix — IT Governance Risk Assessment/Engagement Planning Considerations............................................. 19 iv GTAG — Executive Summary Executive Summary To support the heightened importance of IT governance and the mandatory nature of the International Standards...
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...CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND Introduction States and nations since the existence of the first known civilization have been struggling to establish stability on the administration of its affairs. One of these, which is inevitable is to suppress corruption that seems to worsen. (Olivares-Cunanan, 2013) Although there is no known document that will lead us to where corruption began and who started this practice, there are already existing documents that proposes how it started and the reason why this exists. Corruption began in the early period as far back as the old Egyptian kingdom. There is also a clear founding that corruption through its most common form existed in other civilizations that existed in the early ancient world. In the Athenian state council, bribery is common in order for the major power the so-called elite to implement what they want. The same practice was committed by roman emperors who used give lands to the senate members in order for the latter body to be on their side. (Freille, 2007). In the modern era, documents from the past that can possibly tell us where and when corrupt practices have begun may seem to be impossible to retrieve, and if ever possible, these documents may have a little relevance to no use at all in the study on how we can curtail at least corrupt practices on the national scale. ( Co, 2007) Defining what is corruption and determining its root cause is one of the center of interest of analysts and international organizations...
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...market conditions that serve to effect Trustpowers operations in Australia within the next 5-10 years. We will evaluate the impact of the economic environment towards Trustpowers operations in Australia, the influence of a host countries business policy, and the challenges, opportunities and risks that can arise in the social and environmental context. But firstly who is Trustpower and what factors contributed to its success in today’s global business arena? Trust power is a New Zealand based company, specialising in electricity generation and electricity retailing. Based in Mount Maunganui, Trustpower utilises renewable energy sources, including hydroelectric and wind farms, and operates a portfolio of 37 hydro generation stations. These assets supply electricity to around 242,000 consumers and serves to provide 43,000 telecommunication services to over 27,000 consumers. Trustpowers two primary shareholders are Infratil (50.5%) and the Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust (33.0%.). Investment from these major corporations has permitted the company to expand its operations into the Australian market in 2008, which was followed by the construction of three wind projects in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, including the Snowtown Wind Farm which generates enough energy to power over 230,000 homes. Trustpower has a long established commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, in which balances financial performance with contributions to the quality...
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