Corporate Governance and Accountability (RCGA) 688

Course Overview

This elective covers three broad areas: for profit corporate governance, nonprofit corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility in the for profit sector. It is designed to provide students with a thorough grounding in a number of key introductory and advanced topics of corporate governance theory, research and practice, including associated reporting and regulation. Students will become familiar with and critique the academic literature in the area, as well as develop their ability to integrate and synthesize between topics in order to appreciate current debates and explore potentially fruitful avenues for development.

Students will explore course concepts through readings, case studies, documentaries, research and discussions, both online and during the in-residence week. The in-residence week will also include presentations by academics and industry representatives. By the end of the course, students should be able to relate knowledge gained from the elective to their own organization, and will be required to demonstrate this in their final assignment.

Course Objectives

On completion of this course, students will be equipped to:

• List, describe, explain, relate, compare, and contrast:
  • alternative definitions/conceptualizations of governance
  • different contexts, rationales, and drivers for corporate governance
  • alternative paradigms in governance research
  • different mechanisms for corporate governance
  • alternative corporate governance frameworks and requirements
  • the different elements of economic, social, environmental, and ethic responsibility
  • the different elements and aspects of corporate disclosure
  • alternative mechanisms for executive compensation
• Cite, explain, select, and apply appropriate models to suggest solutions to problems in:
  • development of corporate governance frameworks and requirements
  • case (company) specific corporate governance and disclosure issues
  • the cost and value relevance of corporate governance
• Derive, critique, and challenge models for:
  • development of corporate governance frameworks and requirements
  • evolution of corporate governance frameworks in comparison to evolution of financial accounting and reporting requirements
• Develop powers of research in the academic literature and texts
• Develop powers of academic literature criticism
• Apply and criticize models
• Develop powers of integration and synthesis to suggest potentially fruitful questions