scholarly journals Do corporate Web sites in Africa communicate investor information according to best practice guidelines?

2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Nel ◽  
R. Baard
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
South African ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Best Practice Guidelines ◽  
On Line ◽  
Corporate Web Sites

Corporate Web sites have become very popular media of information over the past decade. The Investor Relations Society published best practice Web site guidelines in December 2006 to guide companies seeking to improve the quality of their on-line communication with investors via their corporate Web sites. Guidelines were given for presentation (the way in which information is communicated) and content (the information that is communicated). This study focused only on content. A 20-point checklist was developed from the prescribed best practice. The checklist focused on the six categories of best practice that entail company information, annual reports of the current year and archive, relevant news, shareholder information, bondholder information, corporate governance and corporate responsibility. Seventy-eight companies in Africa (40 from South Africa and 38 from the 'rest of Africa', that is Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia) were evaluated against this checklist. Companies from the 'rest of Africa' rated lower than South African companies in all categories on the checklist. Although South African companies received ratings above 90% for all categories, besides bondholder information, many of these companies do not supply shareholder, corporate governance and corporate responsibility information via dedicated sections on their corporate Web sites. The results for companies from the 'rest of Africa' were disappointing, especially with regard to communication of annual reports, shareholder information, bondholder information and corporate responsibility. Although possible reasons for these disappointing results are discussed in this study, further research should be conducted to determine the reason(s) why important elements of information are not communicated via corporate Web sites.

scholarly journals An analysis of corporate governance information disclosure by Canadian banks

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Maingot ◽  
Daniel Zeghal
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Complete Information ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Web Page ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
Corporate Web Sites ◽  
Governance Disclosure

The study reports on the disclosure of governance information by Canadian banks. The information was found through their corporate Web sites. The online information was taken from the Corporate governance Web page and through the annual reports and the proxy circulars. We focused on the disclosure of the corporate governance practices implemented by our sample of 8 banks. A coding sheet was developed to evaluate the corporate governance disclosure of our sample. Our analysis indicates that the bigger the bank, the more disclosure there is. Overall, our results suggest that the choices to disclose and the extent of disclosure are influenced by the strategic considerations of management. We also found that, to be able to find full and complete information on governance, the investor should refer to the annual reports and the proxy circulars and not only focus on the corporate governance Web page.

scholarly journals To report or not to report

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren Maroun ◽  
Harvey Wainer
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Corporate Governance ◽  
South African ◽  
Regulatory Reform ◽  
External Audit ◽  
Whistle Blowing ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Governance Processes

Whistle-blowing can play an important role in enhancing the effectiveness of corporate governance processes. In particular, legislation mandating that auditors blow the whistle on their clients’ transgressions can assist in overcoming agency-related costs and improve confidence in external audit. This is, however, only the case if regulatory reform enjoys cohesion. The Companies Act No. 71 of 2008, by introducing a definition of ‘reportable irregularities’ different from that in the Auditing Profession Act No. 26 of 2005 (APA); excluding ‘independent reviews’ from the scope of APA; and effectively exempting the majority of South African companies from the requirement either to be audited or reviewed, may materially undermine whistle-blowing by auditors in South Africa. In turn, this begs the question: for how long will South Africa rank first globally for the quality of its auditing practices? 

The eQual Approach to the Assessment of E-Commerce Quality

2005 ◽  
pp. 161-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart J. Barnes ◽  
Richard Vidgen
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Quality Evaluation ◽  
Iterative Refinement ◽  
The Other ◽  
Over Time

Understanding the customer is a key aspect of developing any e-commerce offering. In doing so, organizations can improve their offerings over time and benchmark against competitors and best practice in any industry. eQual is a method for assessing the quality of Web sites. The eQual instrument has evolved via a process of iterative refinement in different e-commerce domains. Two of the studies conducted have examined online bookshops as a domain for e-commerce quality evaluation, one based on eQual 2.0 and the other on eQual 4.0. In this chapter we aim to examine these studies, and, as a result, to evaluate the use of the instrument and the benchmarking of the bookshops on two separate occasions. Of particular note are whether the findings are consistent across the two studies and the implications of the findings for e-commerce practice. Finally, the paper rounds off with some conclusions and directions for further research.

Electronic Commerce for Health Products Services-Problems- Quality and Future

2009 ◽  
pp. 190-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill Ag. Drougas
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Scientific Organizations ◽  
Health Products ◽  
Quality Health ◽  
On Line ◽  
Enormous Number

Internet today is one of the most useful tools for information, education and business or entertainment. It is one of the modern technology tools giving us many applications world wide in various fields. One of the most important applications of the Internet is the e-commerce for quality health and medical products. There are an enormous number of Web sites offering health products with the method of E-commerce but still there are many problems with the quality of these products. To the other side many individuals are not able to choice and to know about the quality of these health products that offered today on line with the Internet companies. There are many serious proposals today in to the direction of the quality of the products in health. In this paper summarized many informations about the on line commerce for health products, some of the most popular products and the methodology to train individuals in to the direction to buy and choose quality products. In this paper also presented and analyzed the characteristics and criteria of one serious Internet health company and its Web site. Also how the different scientific organizations can help people and the electronic health commerce to be more effective in to various fields in the division of the popular health. This will be more effective after training and giving criteria and or educating Internet users for a serious choice in to their on line commerce with the E-Health Commerce Web Organizations.

The association between disclosure of forward-looking information and corporate governance mechanisms

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 578-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Basil Al-Najjar ◽  
Suzan Abed
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Computerized Content Analysis ◽  
Forward Looking

Purpose – This paper aims to witness the importance of corporate governance mechanisms and investigates the relationship between the quality of disclosure of forward-looking information in the narrative sections of annual reports and the governance mechanisms for non-financial UK companies. Design/methodology/approach – Computerized content analysis using QSR NVivo 8 is used to measure the extent of forward-looking information in the narratives of the annual reports for 238 companies listed in the London Stock Exchange. Cross-sectional regression analysis is used to examine the impact of the corporate governance mechanisms on forward-looking information. Findings – The results show that board size and the independence of the audit committee are associated with the level of voluntary disclosure of forward-looking information. Research limitations/implication – One limitation of this study is that in controls for the effect of the financial crisis period, by selecting a representative year for a five-year period, 2006. The authors argument in using this year is based on the fact that the main variables of interest do not vary significantly with time, the cross-sectional analysis of the selected period will provide a fair view of the last five year-period. Practical implications – The authors report the importance of some governance practices in the UK, such as the role of the board members as well as the importance of audit committee independence. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the literature by using computerized content analysis to examine the relation between corporate governance mechanism and disclosure quality of forward-looking information using sample of companies before financial crisis period. The authors also examine governance mechanisms that are under-researched in the field of forward-looking disclosure.

scholarly journals National Corporate Governance Codes and IT Governance Transparency in Annual Reports

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 91-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven De Haes ◽  
Tim Huygh ◽  
Anant Joshi ◽  
Laura Caluwe
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
South African ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
It Governance ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Corporate Governance Code ◽  
Corporate Governance Codes ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
Board Level ◽  
Governance Transparency

IT governance is concerned with the oversight of IT assets, their contribution to business value and the mitigation of IT-related risks. Emerging research calls for more board level engagement in IT governance and identifies profound consequences for digitized organizations in case the board is not involved. Against this context, this article analyses how corporate governance codes are guiding boards to provide transparency on how they treat IT governance. The findings show that only the South African corporate governance code, King III, contains a significant amount of IT (governance)-related content. As a second objective, this article builds on these findings by providing an exploratory insight in the contemporary state of IT governance transparency in Belgian and South African companies. This way, the influence of the national corporate governance code on IT governance transparency is explored. The authors' findings show that South African firms tend to be more concerned with IT governance transparency in their annual reports than Belgian firms, given a comparable IT strategic role and ownership structure. Accordingly, the case is made for including more IT (governance)-related guidance in national corporate governance codes, as this might enable companies to be more transparent about their IT governance.

Choice of governance structure and earnings quality

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Kent ◽  
Richard Anthony Kent ◽  
James Routledge ◽  
Jenny Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Firm Size ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of voluntary governance mechanisms in Australia. Design/methodology/approach This study identifies similar choices of corporate governance by Australian firms and tests the effectiveness of the choices made based on the earnings quality of reported firms. Cluster analysis is conducted using governance best practice variables, firm size and an earnings quality variable. Findings This paper’s results support the voluntary governance approach for smaller firms, but suggest that mandatory governance requirements could be beneficial for larger firms. Evidence suggests that a benefit accrues for larger firms with the adoption of governance best practice. Cluster analysis indicates that larger firms tend to exhibit higher levels of adoption of governance best practice than smaller firms. Originality/value This paper adds to the literature by providing important information regarding the suitability of adoption of voluntary governance mechanisms in Australia.

scholarly journals A Systematic Review to Determine Best Practice Reporting Guidelines for AFO Interventions in Studies Involving Children with Cerebral Palsy

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Ridgewell ◽  
Fiona Dobson ◽  
Timothy Bach ◽  
Richard Baker
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Cerebral Palsy ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Data Extraction ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Gait Pattern ◽  
Best Practice Guidelines ◽  
Sufficient Detail ◽  
Children With Cerebral Palsy

Studies which have examined the effects of ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) on children with cerebral palsy (CP) often report insufficient detail about the participants, devices and testing protocols. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the level and quality of detail reported about these factors in order to generate best practice guidelines for reporting of future studies. A systematic search of the literature was conducted to identify studies which examined any outcome measure relating to AFO use in children with CP. A customized checklist was developed for data extraction and quality assessment. There was substantial variability in the level and quality of detail reported across the 41-paper yield. Many papers reported insufficient detail to allow synthesis of outcomes across studies. The findings of this review have been used to generate guidelines for best practice of reporting for AFO intervention studies. It is important to ensure homogeneity of gait pattern in a subject sample or to subdivide a sample to investigate the possibility that heterogeneity affected results. It is also important to describe the orthosis in sufficient detail that the device can be accurately replicated because differences in designs have been shown to affect outcomes. These guidelines will help researchers provide more systematic and detailed reports and thereby permit future reviewers to more accurately assess both the reporting and quality of orthotic interventions, and will facilitate synthesis of literature to enhance the evidence base.

scholarly journals Characteristics of knowledge content in a curated online evidence library

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 507-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sowmya Varada ◽  
Ronilda Lacson ◽  
Ali S Raja ◽  
Ivan K Ip ◽  
Louise Schneider ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Practice Guidelines ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Professional Society ◽  
Clinical Decision Rules ◽  
Quality Of Evidence ◽  
Best Practice Guidelines ◽  
Grade 5

Abstract Objective To describe types of recommendations represented in a curated online evidence library, report on the quality of evidence-based recommendations pertaining to diagnostic imaging exams, and assess underlying knowledge representation. Materials and Methods The evidence library is populated with clinical decision rules, professional society guidelines, and locally developed best practice guidelines. Individual recommendations were graded based on a standard methodology and compared using chi-square test. Strength of evidence ranged from grade 1 (systematic review) through grade 5 (recommendations based on expert opinion). Finally, variations in the underlying representation of these recommendations were identified. Results The library contains 546 individual imaging-related recommendations. Only 15% (16/106) of recommendations from clinical decision rules were grade 5 vs 83% (526/636) from professional society practice guidelines and local best practice guidelines that cited grade 5 studies (P < .0001). Minor head trauma, pulmonary embolism, and appendicitis were topic areas supported by the highest quality of evidence. Three main variations in underlying representations of recommendations were “single-decision,” “branching,” and “score-based.” Discussion Most recommendations were grade 5, largely because studies to test and validate many recommendations were absent. Recommendation types vary in amount and complexity and, accordingly, the structure and syntax of statements they generate. However, they can be represented in single-decision, branching, and score-based representations. Conclusion In a curated evidence library with graded imaging-based recommendations, evidence quality varied widely, with decision rules providing the highest-quality recommendations. The library may be helpful in highlighting evidence gaps, comparing recommendations from varied sources on similar clinical topics, and prioritizing imaging recommendations to inform clinical decision support implementation.

scholarly journals Board Governance and Sustainability Disclosure – A Romanian Insight

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 47-60
Author(s):  
Victoria Stanciu ◽  
Carmen Valentina Rădulescu ◽  
Dumitru Alexandru Bodislav ◽  
Sorin Burlacu ◽  
Ovidiu Cristian Andrei Buzoianu
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Board Governance ◽  
Sustainability Disclosure ◽  
Pharmaceutical Industries

This paper examines the corporate governance and sustainability disclosure and investigates the existing anchor between sustainability disclosure and corporate governance in Romanian companies. The topic provides a generous field of study because of the novelty of sustainable reporting for the Romanian companies and need for robust, consolidated corporate governance. The study’s sample includes listed and non-listed companies operating in the oil, transportation, chemistry and pharmaceutical industries. Annual reports, comply-or-explain declarations and stand-alone sustainability reports of the companies were analyzed on a time frame of three years aiming at measure the quality of sustainability disclosures and investigate the correlations between board governance and sustainability disclosure. The study emphasized that the companies opted mainly to integrate sustainable reporting in the annual management report. The independent reports on sustainability are more rigorous and better aligned to the Romanian framework, then the information integrated into the annual management reports. Improved disclosure is needed on the main risks with severe impacts, policies regarding specific aspects of sustainability, key performance indicators relevant to particular businesses. The sustainability reporting is more focus on soft disclosure items. Companies with larger board size and a higher number of board meetings registered higher disclosure in sustainability reporting. Robust corporate governance is imperative for Romanian companies because they are facing drastic changes in all aspects of their activity. A new rethink approach is needed from the sustainability perspective aiming at reshaping the entire processes starting with a long-term strategy, business models, risk and data management and processing.

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