Exploring the Oversight of Risk Management in UK Higher Education Institutions: The Case of Audit Committees

We explore how audit committees (ACs) oversee risk management in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), using semi-structured interviews, attendance at AC meetings and documentary analysis. We find that the AC’s oversight seems constrained by a fixation on the process of risk management, an over-reliance on risk registers, and varying levels of emphasis on operational risks. Theoretically, the AC’s oversight reflects different shades of symbolic and substantive activities designed to maintain the HEI’s legitimacy and that of its governing board, hence providing a symbolic representation. We raise concerns as to the AC’s ability to monitor effectively the HEIs’ risk management practices

Edging toward ‘reasonably’ good corporate governance

Over four decades, research and policy have created layers of understandings in the quest for “good” corporate governance. The corporate excesses of the 1970s sparked a search for market mechanisms and disclosure to empower shareholders. The UK-focused problems of the 1990s prompted board-centric, structural approaches, while the fall of Enron and many other companies in the early 2000s heightened emphasis on director independence and professionalism. With the financial crisis of 2007-09, however, came a turn in some policy approaches and in academic literature seeking a different way forward. This paper explores those four phases and the discourse each develops and then links each to assumptions about accountability and cognition. After the financial crisis came pointers n policy and practice away from narrow, rationalist prescriptions and toward what the philosopher Stephen Toulmin calls “reasonableness”. Acknowledging that heightens awareness of complexity and interdependence in corporate governance practice. The paper then articulates a research agenda concerning what “reasonable” corporate governance might entail

The life of suggestions

Using the notion of a suggestion, or rather charting the life of suggestions, this article considers the happenings of chance and embodiment as the “problems that got away.” The life of suggestions helps us to ask how connectivities are made, how desire functions, and how “immanence” rather than “transcendence” can open up the politics and ethics that are at play. The text explores movements in thought, what it means to bring the unthought into thought, and how what is “not yet” thought might regenerate positive and creative freedoms that we could tentatively call “hope” in soldering new scenarios for inquiry and pedagogy. Claire Colebrook asks, At what point do we begin or cease to imagine a future? This article explores and experiments with what it might mean to affirm life as suggestion and to let go of the allegiances and attachments that prevent us from seeing alternative

Contagem de células somáticas e produção leiteira em cabras Saanen estressadas via aplicação de ACTH Somatic cell count and milk production of Saanen goats stressed via application of ACTH

Avaliou-se neste estudo o efeito do estresse, via administração de ACTH (hormônio adrenocorticotrófico), sobre a quantidade e qualidade do leite produzido e a indicação de estresse pela alteração no nível de cortisol. Assim, 12 cabras lactantes foram distribuídas em dois grupos: seis animais receberam aplicação de 0,06 UI de ACTH/kg de PV (desafiadas) e seis receberam solução placebo (controle), todas via intravenosa. O desafio ocorreu ao longo da lactação, com aplicação do protocolo aos 30, 60, 120 e 180 dias do início da lactação, avaliando-se em cada data os níveis de cortisol 30 minutos antes, no ato da aplicação, 60, 120 e 300 minutos depois. A produção leiteira foi mensurada diariamente durante 270 dias e, a cada 20 dias, o leite foi colhido para contagem de células somáticas (CCS) pelo método direto. Os teores de cortisol mensurados em -30 e 0 minuto antes da aplicação de ACTH foram baixos e semelhantes entre os grupos. Entretanto, a partir de 60 minutos, constatou-se efeito da aplicação de ACTH, com teor de cortisol de 61,37±6,65 versus 5,47±1,21 ng/mL e de 51,17±10,21 versus 4,67±1,21 ng/mL aos 120 minutos. Aos 300 minutos, o cortisol retornou ao nível basal. Não houve diferença na produção de leite, no teor de proteína e de gordura do leite, cujos valores nos grupos ACTH e Placebo foram 1,37±0,59 e 1,38±0,63 kg de leite, respectivamente. A contagem de células somáticas não foi influenciada pelo estresse e apresentou valores situados na faixa indicada para animais sadios. Constatou-se estresse pontual em decorrência da aplicação de ACTH, porém sem alterações de natureza quantitativa e qualitativa do leite produzido, e isso indica que atividades de manejo que estressam os animais pontualmente não trazem prejuízos ao sistema produtivo.<br>The objective of this study was to analyze the stress effect, via administration of ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone), on quantity and quality of milk produced and also the indication of stress by alteration of cortisol level. Twelve milking goats were divided in two groups: six animals were subjected to intravenous application of 0.06 UI of ACTH/kg of LW (challenged) and six received placebo solution (control). The challenge occurred during milking with protocol application at 30, 60, 120 and 180 days from the beginning of milking; each date the levels of cortisol were evaluated 30 minutes before, at the application of ACTH, 60, 120 and 300 minutes after ACTH. The milk production was measured daily during 270 days and every twenty days the milk was collected for somatic cell count (SCC) by the direct method. The cortisol levels measured at -30 and zero minutes before ACTH applications were low and similar between the goat groups. However, after 60 minutes it was verified the effect of ACTH application, and cortisol contents of 61.37±6.65 versus 5.47±1.21 ng/mL and of 51.17±10.21 versus 4.67±1.21 ng/mL at 120 minutes. At 300 minutes, the cortisol returned to basal level. There was no significant difference of milk production, protein contents and milk fat; groups ACTH and placebo produced 1.37±0.59 and 1.38±0.63 kg of milk, respectively. The somatic cell count was not influenced by ACTH stress and presented values located within the range indicated for healthy animals. Punctual stress originated from ACTH application was verified, but without alterations of quantitative and qualitative nature of milk produced, indicating that management activities that punctually stress animals do not bring production impairment

Striking a Balance Between Rules and Principles-based Approaches for Effective Governance: A Risks-based Approach

Several recent studies and initiatives have emphasized the importance of a strong ethical organizational DNA (ODNA) to create and promote an effective corporate governance culture of trust, integrity and intellectual honesty. This paper highlights the drawbacks of an excessively heavy reliance on rules-based approaches that increase the cost of doing business, overshadow essential elements of good corporate governance, create a culture of dependency, and can result in legal absolutism. The paper makes the case that the way forward for effective corporate governance is to strike an optimal balance between rules-based and principles-based approaches. The recent corporate scandals have demonstrated that the ethical ODNA is critical to the driving force and basis of legal and regulatory requirements. Effective governance means adhering to ethical principles, not merely complying with rules, and is a crucial guardian of a firm’s reputation and integrity. It is through an effective corporate governance program (that is, one that optimally captures and integrates the appropriate aspects of rules-based and principles-based approaches, and identifies and assesses the related risks) that an organization can reconfigure its ODNA for improved performance. Focusing on the ethical ODNA as the basis of new governance measures provides an opportunity to develop a competitive advantage as it represents a potential source of differentiation, strengthens the relationship with all stakeholders of the organization by building a culture of trust and integrity, and re-instills investor confidence. This paper employs dialectical reasoning that links the ODNA through principles-driven rules in developing a risks-based approach. A comparison from a risk assessment perspective between rules-based and principles-based approaches is presented. Although there have been few applications employing dialectical reasoning in business research, this methodology can be extremely useful in isolating ethical issues and integrating them into the business process. The risks-based approach captures the benefits of both rules-based and principles-based approaches, and incorporates trust-based principles suchâ\x90£as solidarity, subsidiarity and covenantal relationships. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006effective corporate governance, organizational DNA, ethics, rules-based, principles-based, risks-based, trust-based, solidarity, subsidiarity, dialectical reasoning, compliance,