...Employment-At-Will Doctrine LEG 500 – Law, Ethics, and Corporate Governance Professor: Renee Berry Strayer University April 29, 2014 Employment-At-Will Doctrine The unethical treatment of employees is a subject that have been discuss for long time in the business field and that also have been treated and sometimes improve with the application of different doctrines or even inside rules of the corporations in the work field. Bowie and Werhane (2005) claim that “managers have been criticized because they invade the privacy of employees through the monitoring of their email, drug testing, and even gathering information about their genetic disposition to a disease” (p. 40). The employers dictate all the rules and what can be done outside the job as well, and however sometimes the employees get fired anyway regardless to theirs attempt to follow the rules. Job security when an employee stays his or her entire life with the same company is a thing of the past, and with that also employee loyalty is long gone (Bowie and Werhane, 2005). According to Halbert and Ingulli (2012),” Employment-At-Will is a legal rule developed in the nineteenth century; giving employers unfettered power to dismiss their employees at will for good cause, for no cause, or even for cause morally wrong, without being thereby guilty of a legal wrong” (p. 49). This rule basically allows the employers to dismiss the employee services whenever it is necessary without a meaningful...
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...composites defined according to a similar strategy or investment objective. C. After presenting 5 years of compliant history, a firm must add annual performance each year going forward up to a maximum of 10 years. Answer: C A firm is initially required to present at least five years of compliant history and must add annual performance each year going forward up to 10 years at a minimum. 3. A rock band plans to visit 15 cities all over the world in one year. They will visit 3 of these 15 cities in January. The number of possible combinations of venues for January is closest to: A. 455 B. 2,730 C. 45 Answer: A The order in which the three cities are visited during January is not important so we use the combinations formula. © Élan Guides 2010 15 C3 15! = 455 (15 3)!(3!) 4. Which of the following tests is most likely used when testing the variance of a single normally distributed population? A. T-test B. Chi-square test C. F-test Answer: B. The chi-square test is used to test the variance of a single normally distributed population. 5. For a two-tailed hypothesis test, the p-value is given as 0.04. At the...
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...Week 7 Assignment: Salem Manufacturing Directions For this assignment, you’ll read about Salem Manufacturing and answer the question that follows. This assignment is due at 11:59 p.m. on the seventh day of Week 7. Grading Criteria Use the following criteria to guide your work for your Week 7 assignment. Tasks | Target: | Week 7 Assignment: Salem Manufacturing | This assignment will be graded by a key provided by the instructor. Weekly assignments are worth 40 percent of your final grade, with the instructor taking the best four scores out of the five weekly assignments. (10 points) | Hedging using Foreign Currency Derivatives Shiela Penny is the Chief Financial Officer [CFO] of SALEM Manufacturing, a U.S. based manufacturer of gas turbine equipment. She has just concluded negotiations for the sale of a turbine generator to Crown, a British firm for One million pounds. This single sale is quite large in relation to SALEM’s present business. SALEM has no other current foreign customers, so the currency risk of this sale is of particular concern. The sale is made in September with payment due three months later in December. Shiela Penny has collected the following financial market information for the analysis of her currency exposure problem: Spot Exchange rate: $1.5640 per British pound. 1,000,000 x 1.5640 = 1,564,000 Three month forward rate: $1.5549 per pound 1,000,000 x 1.5549 = 1,554,900 SALEM’s cost of capital: 16% U.K...
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...and electronic components; the largest designer and maker of undersea telecommunications systems; the larger maker of fire protection systems and electronic security services; the largest maker of specialty valves; and a major player in the disposable medical products, plastics. Edward Breen, who replaced kozlowski removed nine members of Tyco’s international board, and adhesives markets. Since 1986, Tyco has claimed over 40 major acquisitions as well as many minor acquisitions. How the Fraud Happened According to the Tyco Fraud Information Center, an internal investigation concluded that there were accounting errors, but that there was no systematic fraud problem at Tyco. So, what did happen? Tyco's former CEO Dennis Kozlowski, former CFO Mark Swartz, and former General Counsel Mark Belnick were accused of giving themselves interest-free or very low interest loans (sometimes disguised as bonuses) that were never approved by the Tyco board or repaid. Some of these "loans" were part of a "Key Employee Loan" program the company offered. They were also accused of selling their company stock without telling investors, which is a requirement under SEC rules. Koslowski, Swartz, and Belnick stole $600 million dollars from Tyco International through their unapproved bonuses, loans, and extravagant "company" spending. Rumors of a $6,000 shower curtain, $2,000 trash can, and a $2 million dollar birthday party for Kozlowski's wife in Italy are just a few examples of the misuse of company...
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...The CEO's and CFO's Of Public Companies Section 204 Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) mandates that the public accounting firms, or auditors hired by a publicly traded companies will report to an Audit Committee that serves on the Board of Directors of that company. Also, this section outlines the information that the auditors will have to report to the Audit Committee such as, accounting policies and practices used by the company, alternative accounting policies for the disclosure of financial information that has been discussed with management, and the ramifications of such alternatives, and the accounting policies that the accounting firm recommends. Additionally, the accounting firm must report all written communications between the firm and management that includes the schedule of unadjusted differences. Section 301 outlines the corporate responsibilities of Public Company Audit Committees, and outlines that oversight that this committee will have over registered public accounting firms that are retained to perform an audit of company financial statements to ensure that they are providing the correct information on the SEC filings, also referred to as Assurance of Compliance (Public Law 107–204, 2002). The public accounting firms will report directly to the audit committee, and this committee will sets procedures for how resolution disagreements that arise between the auditors and management if discrepancies are found in the financial reporting while conducting the audit report...
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...Case #1: Triple H Film Productions Part 2: MANAGEMENT ISSUES A. i. What is a company? A voluntary association formed and organized to carry on a business. Types of companies include sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability, corporation, and public limited company. Implication of Limited Liability: Limited Liability Companies, much like corporation, provide protection for their owners. If the organization has debts that it cannot pay, the individual owners will not be held responsible for those debts. If the organization has to file bankruptcy the individual owners are still not personally responsible for any of the liabilities that the organization has. Owners can choose to have profits distributed anyway they would like. This means, whatever percentage of profits they want to give to each member, they have the flexibility to do so. Reduction in paperwork. The tedious meetings and note-taking that are required by corporate entities are not required by an LLC. There are no board meetings or quarterly meetings required. There are no quarterly or semi-annual reports that are necessary for the IRS. There is no double taxation. You do not have to pay taxes on your corporate profits, as well as on profits that pass through to your members. You only pay taxes once, and that is on those profits that are given to individual members Longevity of the company is based on the life of the members. The company will dissolve if a member goes bankrupt or passes...
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...Overview The success of any companies’ internal audit function weighs heavily on the direction and tone provided by its Chief Audit Executive that operates within the organization on a daily basis. Stakeholders in a business must have confidence that the CAE of the internal audit function will work to make certain the interests of the stakeholders are top priority. The primary goal of the CAE is to sustain a level of objectivity and independence that ensures that public trust is not lost and value is consistently being added to the entity. Even with well-defined roles and responsibilities, issues may arise within management that requires attention and actions to be taken. Pat Goodly is an example of how even in a tightened governance structure, there still lies problems that should be addressed. Position in the Organization The internal audit function is created by the board of directors and the audit committee. Each individual that operates within the internal audit function including the CAE has their roles and responsibilities defined by the audit committee and board of directors. The primary purpose of the audit committee is to oversee the organization’s internal audit function, which plays a vital role in the aspects of corporate governance and risk management. The reporting environment in which the CAE operates in is discussed in Standard 1110. IIA Standard 1110 states that “the chief audit executive must report to a level within the organization that allows the internal...
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...Part 2D.1 s182). Attribute standard 1120 defines a conflict of interest as a person who has: * “A position of trust, has a competing professional or personal interest” * “Competing interest can make it difficult to fulfil his or her duties impartially” * “A conflict of interest exists even if no unethical or improper act results.” * A conflict of interest could impair an individual’s ability to perform his or her duties and responsibility objectively. The Contract Manager has the following conflicts: * Fails to disclose conflict of interest in tender invitation list ie brother; * Partakes in selection recommendation process whilst remaining silent about brother. * Failure to disclose conflict of interest to the CFO * Presents potential and perceived conflict with ongoing management of the service provider. WA Government Integrity Coordinating Group stresses a conflict of interest is not necessarily wrong or unethical but must be managed to ensure the interests of the organisation take preference. Personal interests such as brothers interest should not influence or be perceived to influence duty to the Company. By not disclosing the relationship with Doug the Contract Manager immediately is under suspicion of compromising the tender process by raising questions such as: Has Doug been fed information which provides an unfair advantage? Will Doug as a service provider be managed and reviewed objectively? Is the Contract Manager been provided...
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...General Electric Company In 1890, Thomas Edison formed Edison General Electric as a way to bring together several of his business interests. During this same time period, his competitor, Thomson-Houston Electric Company, gained important patents that lead to the merger the two companies which in turn created General Electric Company in 1892. Both of these plants are still maintained and operating to this day. Headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, General Electric was ranked third largest company based on profits, total sales, assets and market value with over 287,000 employees around the world (ge.com). In 1896, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average formed, GE was one of the original twelve companies that were listed and is the only one remaining to this day. General Electric has become a multinational corporation that operates through technology infrastructure, NBC Universal, Energy, Capital Finance, and a Consumer and Industrial segment (ge.com). Electric has had many additions to their business including the absorption of the National Electric Lamp Association, the Radio Corporation of America which furthered international radio and created an industry of its own. GE also was the first to introduce the idea of superchargers during WWI and was the world leader of supercharging during WWII which the development of the Whittle W.1 jet engine in 1941 (Wikipedia.org). GE also obtained Enron’s wind power assets during Enron’s bankruptcy proceedings that was the only U.S. manufacturer...
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...Business Ethics Assignment Cover Page Title: | Ahold case | Assignment Number: | Group assignment #1 | Week Number: | 3 | Date: | 28.11.12 | Group Number & Class | | Student number | Name Group member | Contribution in Percentage to the assignment: (total of 100%) | Mark (by lecturer) | 1626680 | Shcherbakova Ekaterina | 25 | | 1624172 | Papashenko Andrey | 25 | | 1624018 | Ekaterina Petrenko | 25 | | | | | | | | | | Marking | | | Presentation | Grammar, visuals, structure | | Research | Sources, verification, attachments | | Opinion | Personal point of view, group attitude towards the case | | Theory | Literature, theoretical references | | Discussion | Different perspectives, alternatives, advice or solutions | | Total: | | | 1) Ahold N.V. started in 1887 as a small family business that further became a management-control firm with aggressive growth goals. The CEO, Pierre Everaert, launched the aggressive acquisition strategy that actually accelerated the corruptive situation. When in the 2003 the first announcement of accounting irregularities appeared, it disclosed the frauds of previous years. That made a hint to so many lawsuits and litigations that even after establishing “Road to Recovery” strategy, company remains to be not trust worthy. The most important ethical issue that can be seen during the whole processes of litigations, that no one connected with irregular accounting admitted his...
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...Implementation Plan 15 Summary 16 References 18 Implementation of an Intranet Site within the Chief Financial Officer Division at the Texas Department of Aging and Disability PROPOSAL Topic The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) provides long-term health care and residential services to the elderly and the intellectually challenged. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is responsible for making sure the department has adequate funding from State and Federal levels to render these services accurately. It is very important for employees within the CFO division to all feel they are a part of a collaborative effort in working towards the department’s mission, which is to “provide a comprehensive array of aging and disability services, supports and opportunities that are easily accessed in local communities” (www.dads.state.tx.us). To increase the collaborative effort amongst staff, effective communication, efficient work flow processes, and awareness of each unit’s responsibilities all need to be in place. Problem The problem at hand is how can the CFO streamline the management...
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...CFOs role in the diffusion of management control systems 29 May 2015 CFOs role in the diffusion of management control systems Abstract Purpose – this paper aims to review the literature on CFOs and their role in diffusing management control systems. Design/methodology/approach – this paper identifies 41 studies from leading academic journals and evaluates 7 of these studies, which deal with CFOs role in diffusing management control systems. The author analyze both research design and actual findings in the field. Findings – The analysis finds that even though characteristics such as education and tenure is shown to have an effect on the innovation of management control systems, there are also contradictions on which characteristics have a significant effect which opens for further research on the subject. Originality/value – the author synthesize the findings and derive a future research agenda. Keywords – CFO, management control systems, upper echelons, literature review Paper type – literature review 1. Motivation Recent papers (Burkert and Lueg, 2013; Hiebl, 2014) suggests that CFOs have become more powerful in recent years and that they are responsible for the diffusion of management control systems across organizations. To examine the role of the CFO in diffusing management control systems, I review literature with a focus on upper echelon characteristics of CFOs and management control systems, which will allow me to clarify the influence CFO characteristics...
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...strategy evaluation. Understanding each of them is essential when implementing them in the company. Strategic Management Process The primary components of a strategic management process are environmental planning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation and strategy evaluation. Environmental scanning is a process of collecting, examining and providing information for strategic purposes. This information assists in the internal and external factors influencing an organization. Following the analysis process, there should be an evaluation on it to improve the analysis (Management Study Guide, n.d.) Strategy formulation is the method of deciding the best course of action for accomplishing organizational objectives for this reason achieving organizational purpose. After conducting environment scanning, managers formulate corporate, business and functional strategies (Management Study Guide, n.d.). Strategy implementation entails producing the strategy work as intended or putting the organization’s chosen strategy into action. This includes designing the organization’s structure, distributing resources, developing decision making process and managing human resouces. The final step of the strategy management process is the strategy evaluation. The fundamental strategy evaluation activities are: appraising internal and external factors that are the root of present strategies, measuring performance and taiking corrective actions. This type of evaluation asures the organizational...
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...Running Head: ENRON BUSINESS FAILURE Examining a Business Failure Paper Enron Rachel Y. Pointer University of Phoenix LDR/531 Ernest Price, Instructor January 17, 2010 Enron Business Failure One of the world’s most catastrophic business failures was Enron. Unveiled in October 2001, this scandal involves the renowned energy company Enron in conjunction with the accounting, auditing and consultancy schemes of Arthur Andersen. Enron disgraces ultimately lead the organization to a scandal that resulted in the biggest economic failure in United States history (TIME Enron, 2001). The Enron scandal also destroyed one of the foremost accounting agencies in the world, Arthur Andersen. Enron’s downfall was the result of their choice of accounting practices, in particular target entities and poor financial reporting. Enron’s accounting structure had so many loopholes that it was unproblematic for Andrew Fastow, the organization’s chief financial officer, to mask billions in debt from failed transactions and schemes. Fastow and other main executives purposely misinformed the organization’s board of directors and audit commission. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began an investigation into Enron after the organization’s stock price began to plummet and Dynegy offered to purchase Enron at a price much lower than normal market price. When the Dynegy deal did not happen, Enron filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001 under Chapter 11 of the...
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...Assignment 5.1.1 – Inherent Limitations of Internal Control By: Jennifer Jones 1. Describe three inherent limitations of internal control in preventing or detecting fraud. Provide a real-world example of each type of limitation. “Certain events or conditions are simply outside management’s control and that no system of internal control will always do what it is designed to do. The best that can be expected in any of system of internal control is that reasonable assurance be obtained” (COSO, 2012). Judgment According to PPC 201.51 describes it as “the effectiveness of internal controls is limited by the reality that human error might occur in the process of making decisions.” It goes further to say that they are subject to management bias and must be made with human judgment based on information available at the time, and usually within a limited time frame. Certain decisions based on human judgment may be found to produce less than desired results and may need to be revised” (Burgess & Vukovits, 2014). The COSO framework’s control environment component, states that an organization needs to demonstrate “a commitment to attract, develop, and retain competent individuals.” Judgment would be required to determine whether the process of attracting and developing a high-quality staff is effective and has led to the employment of competent individuals throughout the organization. The need for such judgment heretofore has been implicit — now, it is required. The framework’s...
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