Impact of climate change issues on businesses : an action plan using a corporate governance approach

Business globally are readying themselves for wide-ranging impacts as they transition towards a low carbon footprint economy. This paper discusses the major impacts for the firm due to the move to a low-carbon footprint system. In doing so it highlights the crucial link between opportunities, costs, risks and structural changes faced by firms, and presents a framework for managing the complex, multi-pronged impacts. The paper provides a conceptual model that will assist decision-makers to deal with risk management or bottom-line protection issues as well as exploiting the business opportunity the new regulatory environment will produce. The model argues for a holistic corporate governance mechanism, with responsibility and accountability of climate change risk management placed with the board of directors and senior management.

Active data-centric framework for data protection in cloud environment

Cloud computing is an emerging evolutionary computing model that provides highly scalable services over highspeed Internet on a pay-as-usage model. However, cloud-based solutions still have not been widely deployed in some sensitive areas, such as banking and healthcare. The lack of widespread development is related to users’ concern that their confidential data or privacy would leak out in the cloud’s outsourced environment. To address this problem, we propose a novel active data-centric framework to ultimately improve the transparency and accountability of actual usage of the users’ data in cloud. Our data-centric framework emphasizes “active” feature which packages the raw data with active properties that enforce data usage with active defending and protection capability. To achieve the active scheme, we devise the Triggerable Data File Structure (TDFS). Moreover, we employ the zero-knowledge proof scheme to verify the request’s identification without revealing any vital information. Our experimental outcomes demonstrate the efficiency, dependability, and scalability of our framework.

Understanding equity as an asset to national interest: developing a social contract analysis of policy

Alongside the influence of market-based reforms in education policy has been the growth of policy that has largely been overlooked – those that outline social contracts. This paper draws on policies that connect with equity as a way of illustrating this social contract turn in policy and develops a conceptualisation of social contracts as they apply to education policy. The argument provides three principles that underpin social contracts, including informed consent, negotiation and accountability. This paper applies these principles to three levels of social contract. At the first level are broad social contracts, which are associated with debates about the kinds of things that states should expect from its citizens, and the things that citizens could expect from governments and the state. The second level of social contract is an institutional or field-based social contract, which spells out the obligations and connections between a specific field and other fields. This level names a kind of social contract that is often exemplified in policies or statements by specific institutions. The third level of social contract deals with contract-like mechanisms embedded in fields that make tangible the obligations and expectations of citizens in fulfilling the expectations of fields.

Data Integration Protocol In Ten-steps (DIPIT) : a new standard for medical researchers

The exponential increase in data, computing power and the availability of readily accessible analytical software has allowed organisations around the world to leverage the benefits of integrating multiple heterogeneous data files for enterprise-level planning and decision making. Benefits from effective data integration to the health and medical research community include more trustworthy research, higher service quality, improved personnel efficiency, reduction of redundant tasks, facilitation of auditing and more timely, relevant and specific information. The costs of poor quality processes elevate the risk of erroneous outcomes, an erosion of confidence in the data and the organisations using these data. To date there are no documented set of standards for best practice integration of heterogeneous data files for research purposes. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to describe a set of clear protocol for data file integration (Data Integration Protocol In Ten-steps; DIPIT) translational to any field of research.

Change in schools it’s more like sort of turning an oil tanker : creating readiness for health promoting schools

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to add to the evidence of best practice in the implementation of the Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework by examining the process of creating readiness for change in a large international school in South-East Asia. Using a settings-based approach and guided by readiness for change theory the data collected reflects which factors were most influential in the decision of the leadership team (LT) to adopt a comprehensive HPS model. It follows the process of creating readiness in the early stages of adopting a HPS approach and captures the critical factors effecting leader’s beliefs and support for the program. Design/methodology/approach – This research is a case study of a large pre-K-12 international school in South-East Asia with over 1,800 students. A mixed methods qualitative approach is used including semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The participants are the 12 members of the LT. Findings – Readiness for change was established in the LT who adopted a HPS approach. That is, they adopted a comprehensive model to address health-related priorities in the school and changed the school’s mission and accountability processes to specifically include health. Uncovering the reasons why the LT supported this change was the primary focus of this research. Building the motivation to change involved establishing a number of key beliefs three of which were influential in bringing about readiness for change in this case study. These included the belief that leadership support existed for the proposed change, a belief that there was a need for change with a clear discrepancy in the present and preferred operations in relation to addressing the health issues of the school and the belief that HPS was the appropriate solution to address this discrepancy. Research limitations/implications – Adopting a HPS approach is the first phase of implementation. Long-term research may show if the integrity of the chosen model is maintained as implementation continues. The belief construct of valence, that is, the belief that the change will benefit the change recipient, was not reliably assessed in this research. Further research needs to be conducted to understand how this construct is interpreted in the school setting. The belief construct of valence was not reliably assessed in this research. Further research needs to be done to understand how this construct fits in the school setting. Practical implications – This paper provides a promising example of how health can be integrated into the school’s Mission and Strategic Learning Plan. The example presented here may provide strategies for others working in the field of HPS. Originality/value – Creating readiness is an often over-looked stage of building sustainable change. International schools cater to more than three million students are a rarely researched in regards to health education. It is predicted that the numbers of students in international schools will grow to more than six million in the next ten years.

Global democratic theory: a critical introduction

Global Democratic Theory is the first comprehensive introduction to the changing contours of democracy in today’s hyperconnected world. Accessibly written for readers new to the topic, it considers the impact of globalization and global forms of governance and activism on democratic politics and examines how democratic theory has responded to address these challenges, including calls for new forms of democracy to be developed beyond the nation-state and for greater public participation and accountability in existing global institutions. Divided into two parts, the book shows how globalization provides both new obstacles and new opportunities for democracy. Part I explores the shifts underway at the national and international levels that are challenging democracy within nation-states around the world. In response, new proposals for global and transnational democracy have emerged. Part II critically analyses five main approaches of ‘global democratic theory’ Ð liberal internationalism, cosmopolitan democracy, deliberative democracy, social democracy and radical democracy, focusing on their specific interpretation of the problems facing democracy, their normative claims, and the feasibility of their proposed pathways of democratization. The book’s extensive account of the problems and possibilities facing democracy today will be essential reading for students and scholars of politics, political theory and political philosophy.

Stakeholders’ perspectives on the role of regulatory reform in integrated reporting

This paper reports on an exploratory study of the preferences of users of non-financial reporting for regulatory or voluntary approaches to integrated reporting (IR). While it is well known that companies prefer voluntary approaches to non-financial reporting, considerably less is known about the preferences of the users of non-financial information. IR is the latest development in attempts over 30 or more years to broaden organisational non-financial reporting and accountability to include the wider social and environmental impacts of business. It promises to provide a more cohesive and efficient approach to corporate reporting by bringing together financial information, operational data and sustainability information to focus only on material issues that impact an organisation’s ability to create value in the short, medium and long term. The study found more support for voluntary approaches to IR as the majority of participants thought that it was too early for regulatory reform. They suggested that IR will become the reporting norm over time if left to market forces as more and more companies adopt the IR practice. Over time IR will be perceived as a legitimate practice, where the actions of integrated reporters are seen as desirable, proper, or appropriate. While there is little appetite for regulatory reform, half of the investors support mandatory IR because, in their experience, voluntary sustainability reporting has not led to more substantive disclosures or increased the quality of reporting. There is also evidence that IR privileges financial value creation over stewardship, inhibiting IR from moving beyond a weak sustainability paradigm.

Impact assessment: from theory to practice

Foreign aid is intended to be a major contributor to poverty reduction. However, significant questions arise as to the capacity for development funding to contribute to human development, through service provision, through advocacy, through actions and interventions that change power relations, change the social and institutional arrangements that reinforce inequality, threaten or reproduce well-being, and prevent the fulfillment of human rights. In conjunction with questions about what aid “does,” there is equal focus on how it does it. Questions of efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, accountability, social license to operate, relevance, and many others are all embedded in contemporary aid discourse and practice. The aim of this volume was to contribute to a critical understanding of Impact Assessment (IA) clearly informed by contemporary development theory and practice. There is a significantly increasing push for impact assessment, across the whole aid architecture. This is exacerbated by a much stronger focus on value for money, and accountability – to taxpayers specifically in the context of public funds, and donors in an increasingly competitive NGO environment. As was noted by many authors, since the GFC, a significant number of donor governments have reduced or are considering funding reduction for bilateral aid agencies and their contributions to multilateral aid agencies. At the same time they imposed a more stringent and rigorous requirement focusing on “aid-for-trade” and “value-for-money” strategies. There is a drive to ensure the positive impacts of the grant or loan in a sustainable manner.

Teacher beliefs in ‘testing’ times: a lesson from Singapore

International benchmarking and national testing of students at all levels of schooling have provoked teachers to critically reflect on their place in this endeavour. Many of the curriculum and pedagogical approaches associated with this type of assessment and accountability conflict with long-held beliefs about the role of teachers and the work of schooling. Singapore is recognised for significant achievement in the international schooling arena and also has a long history of national testing. This study draws specifically on positioning theory to investigate teacher beliefs and positioning in these times. A large qualitative research project located in Singapore sought the ways experienced teachers positioned themselves and their work as they negotiated multiple and sometimes conflicting discourses of teaching. A rigorous process was used to elicit teacher beliefs and resultant teacher positions.

Monitor objectivity with important clients: evidence from auditor opinions around the world

We examine whether monitors are likely to compromise their monitoring objectivity in the face of economically important clients in international business settings. In the context of external auditing and assurance services, we measure monitor objectivity by whether auditors are more (or less) likely to issue to their important clients modified audit opinions, that is, audit opinions provided to outside investors about the firm that demotes explicit areas of concern. Using a large cross-country sample, we document that auditors are more likely to issue modified opinions to their economically important clients relative to other clients. Furthermore, we find that this association is stronger (1) for Big N auditors, (2) for multinational audit clients, and (3) in countries with stronger legal regimes. These results suggest that monitors prioritize the protection of their reputation over lucrative economic relationships, and such information certification function is more pronounced for international auditors, multinational client firms, and in strong legal regimes.

Fabricating an identity in neo-liberal times: performing schooling as ‘number one’

This paper presents interview data from a case study of ‘Lemontyne College’; a large government school situated in a ‘master planned community’ (MPC) in Australia. The paper draws on Ball’s (2003) theorising of performativity and fabrication to analyse this school’s take up of the status‐oriented corporate discourses of performance, competition and accountability. This theorising brings to light the ways in which the managerial processes at the school, driven by the administration’s embracing of these discourses, shape Lemontyne into an auditable commodity and fabricate an identity around being ‘number 1’. The paper highlights the lack of authenticity of this fabrication by drawing attention to its careful and deliberate construction. Our focus here is on the surveillance and accountability measures required to discipline teachers into this performative sociality and on the alternative reality articulated by teachers in terms of their resistance to this sociality. To these ends, the paper highlights how Lemontyne’s embracing of performative discourses results in a de‐socialisation of schooling relations. We propose that such de‐socialisation compromises efforts in schools to respond productively to social change and in particular to the new equity challenges arising in contexts such as Lemontyne situated in a MPC.

Accountability, completeness, credibility and the audit expectations gap

This article deals with two concerns in achieving greater accountability in social reports: the lack of completeness of reporting, and the lack of credibility of reports. The article focuses, in particular, on the role of social audits in improving the completeness and credibility of reporting, thereby reducing the audit expectations gap. We suggest that this gap arises due to an over-emphasis on the validity of performance data at the expense of addressing completeness and credibility, both of which, we argue, require stakeholder involvement. The article reviews recent guidelines aimed at ensuring that companies produce reports that are complete in all material respects including those produced by the Global Reporting Initiative and the Federation des Experts Comptables Europeens, focusing particularly on AccountAbility's AA1000 Standard and AA1000S Assurance Standard. Finally, the article considers the development of a practical approach to social audit following principles increasingly being incorporated into developing assurance guidelines aimed at reducing the audit expectations gap.

Accountability structures and management relationships of internal audit : an Australian study

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the accountability structures and the management relationships of internal audit. In particular, related issues such as the predominant internal audit objectives and the related functions, the extent to which internal audit addresses any financial reporting risks and the manner in which internal auditors in Australia perform their tasks, are identified. The study also looks at the extent of compliance with the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Standards.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on a survey of the chief audit executives in Australia, the study identifies the reporting mechanisms, functions and relationships of internal audit, including the contributions made towards good corporate governance. There is, however, some misalignment between the aspirations of internal auditors and their relationships with management.
Findings – While internal audit objectives have been established with a focus on controls, risks and governance, the study has highlighted the fact that there is a lack of correlation between the tasks performed by internal auditors and the important internal audit objectives, with the exception of internal control and risks. The results also suggest that internal auditors have been providing an internal consulting and advisory role in matters concerning IT systems, strategic risks and financial issues. If internal auditors are to proactively contribute to good corporate governance, they need to define how, and in what way, this can be done. In regard to corporate governance processes, the results of the research indicate that issues surrounding internal control, risk assessment and management processes are regarded as the key factors for internal audit to contribute to good corporate governance.
Originality/value – This study complements and contributes to the existing literature in providing insights into the evolving role of the internal audit function in terms of accountabilities and relationships with management. It also provides a valuable insight into how the internal audit profession can build upon its inherent strengths and address any apparent areas of concern. This will assist both the profession and policy makers alike, in better understanding and improving the role of the internal audit process.