JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. got sued on 10/11/2011. The plaintiff firm is Sianni & Straite LLP. According to a press release dated October 11, 2011, the Plaintiffs allege violations of the federal securities laws in connection with false statements released surrounding its IPO. Based in the People’s Republic of China, the Company launched an IPO in the United States […]
Tag Archives | risk
McKenna's Insights into Berkshire Hathaway
Francine McKenna isn’t afraid to take on the big four auditing firms or the rich and powerful. Look for her column, Accounting Watchdog at Forbes.com. The following is an extended excerpt from a recent post, The Berkshire Hathaway Corporate Governance Performance. “Buffett judges the investments he makes ruthlessly, but allows his operating companies to run on autopilot.” […]
Next ShareOwner Proposal Hot Topic: Climate Change Risk Assessments at Insurance Companies
Only 11 of 88 major insurers surveyed recently have formal policies in place to deal with growing climate change risks, according to a major new report issued today by Ceres. The report was to have been delivered at a conference of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) that was cancelled due to Hurricane Irene. […]
Low Risk Boards
News Corp got Andrew Dominguez and Eben Esterhuizen to thinking about why boards fail. They came up with the following: No Repercussions: Shareholder lawsuits don’t pose much of a threat to an incompetent board. Most U.S. companies incorporate in Delaware, where state laws exempt board members from financial liability for their actions. Poor Data: Some boards receive […]
Economics of Good and Evil: The Secret Foundations of a Science
Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street, by Thomas Sedlacek, explores the path dependency of modern Western economics through mythology, religion and fables. I wish the book had been published and influential forty-five years ago when I was a freshman economics major. When I was an undergraduate student […]
Post-Modern Portfolio Theory: IRRC Research Award Available
The IRRC Institute announced a competition for research that examines the interaction of the real economy with investment theory. Two papers – one academic and one practitioner – will receive the new “IRRC Institute Research Award” along with a $10,000 award. Of course, we would like both prizes to go to CorpGov.net readers. One of […]
Believe it: Sometimes Governance is to Blame More than the Tax Code
The recent discussion in the media about the litigation around the Tribune Company LBO in 2007, is an excellent illustration of the consequences of a governance failure as well as the failure of many commentators to recognize the causal relationship. In the linked article, Holman Jenkins of the WSJ correctly notes that this deal was […]
Shifting Tectonics & Climate Change
Scientists have for the first time shown a link between intensifying climate events and tectonic plate movement in findings that could provide a valuable (more…)
Video Friday: Risk and the Board
Interview with: Andrea Zulberti, Member of the Board of Directors, Prologis and SYNNEX Corporation. Hosted by: Don Keller, Partner Corporate Governance Practice, PwC. What elements of corporate risk are not receiving adequate Board oversight: (1) strategic, (2) financial, (3) compliance, (4) operational, (5) technology and/or (6) unknown? Is it Management’s or the Board’s responsibility to […]
Transocean: Now, the Rest of the Story
I get hundreds of e-mails every day and often delete before even glancing if I am especially busy. Fortunately, Timothy Smith of Walden Asset Management also sent out an e-mail on a post by Theo Francis, of footnoted*, that had already hit my trash. We’ve all heard about Transocean’s bonuses for “the best year in […]
Review: Risk Management and Corporate Governance
Risk Management and Corporate Governance: Interconnections in Law, Accounting and Tax by Marijn Van Daelen (Editor), Christoph Van Der Elst (Editor) After the recent financial crisis more and more pension and other funds are adjusting their portfolios for risk. This book offers a fascinating look at the juxtaposition of corporate governance and risk analysis. Bob […]
Exchange Leverage
Stock exchanges can enhance corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure and performance by applying ESG standards within IPO and ongoing listing rules, corporate governance codes, and by offering ESG-related traded products. A September 2010 paper by EIRIS, a global provider of ESG research, reviews the increasing role that stock exchanges play in enhancing corporate […]
Do Independent Directors Cave to Shareowner Pressure, Creating Higher Risk?
Interesting article in The Economist (Corporate Constitutions, 10/28/2010) on the recent revolution in corporate governance. in 2009 less than 12% of incoming CEOs were also made chairmen, compared with 48% in 2002. CEOs are held accountable for their performance—and turfed out if they fail to perform, with the average length of tenure dropping from 8.1 […]
Financial Sustainability: Restoring Market Stability, Corporate Value & Public Trust (ICGN Mid-Year 2010)
Disclaimer: Given Dodd-Frank, proxy plumbing and all those comments I want to provide the SEC, the report below doesn’t do the ICGN Mid-Year Conference justice. I wrote this up more than a week later with poor notes and memory. Comments, corrections and substitute photos are solicited. Sharing Perspectives Across the Atlantic. Phil Angelides, Lord McFall […]
Risk, Sustainability & Responsibility
In the 21st century, corporate health and success are inextricably linked to the adequacy of security management. Poor security management can lead to operational disruptions and financial losses. For this reason, boards of directors need to take ownership of security in the same way they take ownership of other critical aspects of the business. To […]
Addressing Risk in Money Market Funds
Capital Advisors Group (CAG), a leading institutional investment advisor focused on short-term cash investing, announced the launch of FundIQ – “the industry’s first money market fund research product designed to help treasury professionals pursue investment performance by applying the firm’s new fundamental risk analysis process and an independent credit opinion to institutional prime money market […]
Banking on Governance
Leverage and Risk in US Commercial Banking in the Light of the Current Financial Crisis (available from SSRN) by Christian C.P. Wolff and Nikolaos I. Papanikolaou examines the relationship between leverage and risk in US commercial banking market. From their abstract: Our findings indicate reliably that both on- and off-balance-sheet leverage contributes to (systemic) risk, […]
CEO Pay & Risk Reduction
In Reining in Excessive Risk Taking by Executives: Experimental Evidence, researchers Mathieu Lefebvre and Ferdinand Vieider find that excessive risks are likely to be reduced by aligning executives’ interests with those of shareowners. (paper available at SSRN, March 2010) Abstract follows: Compensation of executives by means of equity has long been seen as a means […]
CorpGov Bites
“In many ways, 2010 is the Foundation Proxy Season. By next year, the world will be changed. It is likely that both say-on-pay and proxy-access measures will be mandated. Directors will undoubtedly face greater scrutiny and more challenges than ever before. As a result of these impending challenges, boards must use the 2010 season to […]
A Fistful of Dollars: Lobbying and the Financial Crisis
On December 31, 2007, the Wall Street Journal reported that Ameriquest Mortgage and Countrywide Financial spent respectively $20.5 million and $8.7 million in political donations, campaign contributions, and lobbying activities from 2002 through 2006 to defeat of anti-predatory lending legislation. Such anecdotal evidence suggests that the political influence of the financial industry contributed to the […]
How Politics Shaped the Political Economy of Global Finance
The Political Economy of Global Finance Capital by Richard Deeg and Mary O’Sullivan review 6 influential books on the topic in light of the recent financial crisis. The most important developments highlighted: the move from a predominant focus on state-centered patterns of regulation to a more comprehensive understanding of the role of states and private […]
January 2009 Special News Supplement: Directors Forum 2009
The conference opened with a great dinner and a fascinating keynote speech by Jim Chanos, founder and managing partner of Kynikos Associates, the world’s biggest short-seller. In introducing him, conference co-host Larry Stambaugh proudly held up a copy of the Financial Times from two days earlier that had Chanos’ picture not only above the fold […]