| Unit name | Contemporary issues in corporate governance |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ACFI30001 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Michelon |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
n/a |
| Co-requisites |
n/a |
| School/department | School of Accounting and Finance - Business School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Corporate governance is concerned with the strategic direction, monitoring and accountability of companies. Increasingly, corporate governance problems pose important challenges for the accounting and management professions, especially in light of continuing corporate scandals and collapses, and pressure from the investors’ world and several regulators and policy makers on sustainability issues. Examples of questions that warrant discussion include: in whose interests should companies be governed; what’s considered best practice for board composition and leadership; when and how does corporate governance fail; how do features of the institutional and legal environment affect governance structures; how do boards reconciliate short-term financial objectives and long-term impacts of corporate activities on society and the environment; how does corporate governance contribute to sustainable development.
Specifically, the unit will cover:
- theories and mechanisms of corporate governance
- international models of corporate governance
- corporate governance in practice
- corporate governance in its institutional and legal context, including recent governance scandals
- current debates in corporate governance
On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
1) Understand and critique theories, principles and practices of corporate governance drawn from academic literature and real-life examples
2) Discuss and critically analyse mechanisms of corporate governance for the interest of different stakeholders
3) Analyse and appraise current international models of corporate governance and their roles in the society
4) Critique and challenge corporate governance frameworks and requirements in light of current governance scandals
5) Evaluate current policy positions and debate about corporate governance, select and apply appropriate theories and principles to suggest solutions to corporate governance related problems.
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of sessions including lectures, tutorials, drop-in sessions.
This unit will be assessed by individual coursework 40% and exam 60%
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ACFI30001).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an
assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
