Time-series cross-sectional environmental performance and disclosure relationship:specific evidence from a less-developed country

This paper relies on ‘vulnerability and exploitability’ framework to submit new insights into legitimacy theory and voluntary disclosure theory using specific empirical evidence from the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The study connects the voluntary and legitimizing disclosure behaviors, regarding carbon emission due to gas flaring, of dominant companies in the Nigerian upstream petroleum sector to the vulnerability and exploitability of Nigeria as a less developed country. The hypothesized relations between gas flaring-related environmental performance and two forms of its disclosure (volume and substance) are estimated and tested using Prais-Winsten regression with Panel Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE). While the paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure gas flaring-related carbon performance, the two forms of gas flaring-related disclosures are measured using content analysis. We document significant positive and negative association between gas flaring-related carbon emission performance, on one hand, and the volumetric disclosure and disclosure substance on the other hand. These results imply that while the positive relation confirms the vulnerable nature of Nigeria as a less developed country, the negative relation is linked to the country’s exploitability. It is also empirically established that environmental performance is one of the key factors responsible for the undulating trend in the volume of environmental disclosures by large corporations operating in less-developed countries

CAPITAL FLOWS TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND THE REFORM OF THE INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM

Recent financial crises, whose effects have been particularly severe in developing countries, have led to a wide-ranging debate on international financial reform. This debate has had to confront the implications of the huge growth of international capital movements, one of whose consequences has been the increased “privatization” of external financing for developing countries. The paper begins with surveys of major features of the post-war evolution of the system of governance of the international financial system and of the principal trends in capital flows to developing countries during the past three decades. These set the stage for a selective review of appropriate policy responses to international financial instability, with the main focus on proposals for remedying structural and institutional weaknesses in the global financial architecture through such means as greater transparency and improved disclosure, strengthened financial regulation and supervision, more comprehensive and even-handed multilateral policy surveillance, and bailing in the private sector by arrangements for orderly debt workouts. In view of the continuing absence of effective measures at the global level for dealing with financial instability, the paper puts special emphasis on the maintenance by developing countries of national autonomy regarding policy towards capital movements.

Financial Consumer Protection and the Global Financial Crisis

This paper discusses the role and design of financial consumer protection (FCP), weaknesses of current FCP frameworks in light of the recent global financial crisis, policy responses to the crisis, and policy issues in FCP that remain to be addressed. The failures of financial consumer protection have been one of the detonators and amplifiers in the crisis. Policy responses during the crises have focused mainly on enhanced disclosure of pre-contractual and contractual terms and conditions of financial products, their professional and ethical distribution, and debt counseling and education programs for consumers. Most recently, more attention has been paid to the institutional design for financial consumer protection, including regulation, supervision and enforcement and access to financial education. This has been advanced by thinking about the need for a sound and safe design of future financial architecture, including benchmarks for FCP worldwide.Financial Consumer Protection, Global Financial Crisis, Business Conduct Regulation and Supervision, Financial Market Integrity

The future of corporate reporting: a review article

Significant changes in the corporate external reporting environment have led to proposals for fundamental changes in corporate reporting practices. Recent influential reports by major organisations have suggested that a variety of new information types be reported, in particular forward-looking, non-financial and soft information. This paper presents a review and synthesis of these reports and provides a framework for classifying and describing suggested information types. The existence of academic antecedents for certain current proposals are identified and the ambiguous relationship between research and practice is explored. The implications for future academic research are discussed and a research agenda is introduced

Regulatory Structure for Financial Stability and Development

To understand the appropriate regulatory response to the crisis, we start from the basic market failures that justify regulation in financial markets. Neglecting these first principles contributed to the market and regulatory failures. Regulation that induces better outcomes through creating correct incentives for market participants is the key to reform. A combination of micro and macro prudential regulation can moderate procyclicality, information failure and market power. Better national and global coordination of regulators is also required. Global prudential standards can push financial firms to choose safe over risky strategies, by removing the moral hazard from bailouts, and assuring that a competitor is not adopting risky strategies either. Universal application of basic standards prevents regulatory arbitrage. A pure principles-based regulatory approach maybe too flexible, but principle-based rules retain sufficient operational flexibility and universality. This analysis is applied to regulation in emerging market economies (EMEs), where development of financial markets is a major regulatory goal along with stability.market failures, incentives, procyclicality, coordination, rules versus principles, development

The Role of Sovereign Wealth Funds in Global Managament of Excess Foreign Exchange Reserves

This paper finds evidence that for many countries Sovereign Wealth Funds are the alternative vehicle for management of excess foreign exchange reserves. These funds can be seen as a substitutes for monetary authorities as well as institutional innovations on global financial markets. Sovereign Wealth Funds offer to countries various economic and financial benefits. They facilitate saving intergenerational transfer of proceeds from nonrenewable resources and help reduce cyclical volatility driven by changes in commodity export prices. These state-run funds help to reduce the opportunity cost of reserves holdings due to greater portfolio diversification of reserve-assets and allow countries to accumulate large capital inflow without negative consequences such as exchange rate appreciations, price distortions, liquidity expansion, domestic asset bubbles, financial sector imbalances and inflations. Sovereign Wealth Funds can support domestic economy during the crises as a investors of last resort and stabilize international financial markets by supplying liquidity and reducing market volatility. Sovereign Wealth Funds are likely to continue growing and increase their relative importance in global financial markets.Dzięki inwestowaniu w szeroką gamę aktywów na rynkach międzynarodowych państwowe fundusze majątkowe zmniejszają lub wręcz eliminują koszty alternatywne związane z utrzymywaniem rezerw. Fundusze te ułatwiają międzypokoleniowy transfer środków pochodzących z eksploatacji zasobów nieodnawialnych jak również mogą być wykorzystywane do wspierania gospodarki podczas kryzysów kiedy to jako inwestorzy ostatniej instancji zapewniają płynność zarówno sektora finansowego jak i pozostałych gałęzi gospodarki. Państwowe fundusze majątkowe postrzegane są jako narzędzie wspierające stabilność makroekonomiczną gospodarki oraz forma zabezpieczenia przyszłego dobrobytu ekonomicznego kraju. Podmioty te wnoszą ponadto istotny wkład w funkcjonowanie gospodarki światowej. Jako długoterminowi, pasywni inwestorzy, którzy nie stosują w swoich strategiach inwestycyjnych dźwigni, państwowe fundusze majątkowe wywierać mogą stabilizujący wpływ na międzynarodowe rynki finansowe zwiększając ich płynność oraz obniżając wahania rynkowe. Wnioski wyciągnięte w artykule wskazują, że w najbliższym latach możliwy jest dalszy rozwój rynku państwowych funduszy majątkowych i wzrost ich znaczenia na międzynarodowych rynkach finansowych

Governance and information governance: some ethical considerations within an expanding information society

Governance and information governance ought to be an integral part of any government or organisations information and business strategy. More than ever before information and knowledge can be produced, exchanged, shared and communicated through many different mediums. Whilst sharing information and knowledge provides many benefits it also provides many challenges and risks to governments, global organisations and the individual citizen. Information governance is one element of a governance and compliance programme, but an increasingly important one, because many regulations apply to how information is managed and protected from theft and abuse, much of which resides with external agencies usually outside the control of the individual citizen. This paper explores some of the compliance and quality issues within governance and information governance including those ethical concerns as related to individual citizens and multiple stakeholders engaged directly or indirectly in the governance process