Corporate Governance Reporting in Bangladesh: A Study of Selected Listed Private Commercial Banks of Bangladesh

Corporate Governance (CG) largely determines how well the interests of the stakeholders are being maintained. This study has been opted for in-depth inquiry into the corporate governance disclosure practices in the annual reports of the selected listed banking companies in Bangladesh. The study finds that all the sample companies disclose corporate governance information as per regulatory requirements laid down in Clause 1.5 of the SEC Notification, 2012. The focus of this study was to empirically examine the mandatory corporate governance disclosure and the relationship between various corporate attributes and with the level of that mandatory disclosure of the banking companies of Bangladesh. The study revealed that Bangladeshi banking companies have high level of compliance to the mandatory corporate governance disclosure and the variables of board size, ownership, board composition, and profitability have significant impact in the corporate governance disclosure. However, the inclusion of the separate section of Corporate Governance Reporting in the annual reports and suggested guidelines for mandatory list of items to be included in the report is a milestone for Bangladesh. For the purpose, the study has developed a questionnaire based on recent literature survey and have gathered the opinions of the executives of three sample banks under the framework of likerts 5 point scale. The gathered primary data have been properly analysis by a number of descriptive statistics, such as, Mean, Standard Deviation, ANOVA and Post hoc multiple comparison tests.

Business Environment in West Bengal: An Ethical Issue

Ethics in Business are keywords in any business environment which are lacking in most of the cases. In a broad sense ethics means not to cheat others and to do the business in an honest way, to abide by the rules and regulations of the soil, and above all to keep the morale high so that the business can grow to a new height in long run. Unfair means and unethical business practices to earn money quickly are often fraught with the danger of losing the business permanently or losing the goodwill and respect of society. West Bengal has got bad reputation for industrial growth and fake chit funds and it has been named as ponzy capital of India by many as 72 out of 86 fake chit funds are in the state of West Bengal (as per the Report of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India). On the other hand the micro finance company Bandhan which has got Banking license last year (set up in 2001 in West Bengal) and Eins Edutech the company which was originally incorporated on March 9, 1983, as Ganpat Udyog in West Bengal are worth mentioning and at ease one can feel proud of them. As on 17th April, 2015 the latter company has got market capital of Rs.700 crore with its fixed assets, as per its balance sheet, as only two cell phones and one printer. As per monthly status of Bandhan in February 2015 it has 2,022 branches, 63,66,269 borrowers, 15,956 staff, loan disbursed for the month Rs.1,572 crores, and loan outstanding Rs.8,908 crores. Under such situation, this study focuses on the ethical business environment prevailing in West Bengal and the strategies adopted by them.

Corporate Social Responsibility of Public Sector Company: A Case Study of BHEL

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not a new concept in the present scenario. CSR is a continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large. After replacement of the Company Act 1956 by Corporate Act 2013, certain changes have been made. Earlier CSR was not mandatory for the Indian companies but after enforcement of Corporate Act 2013 it has become mandatory for those companies whose turnover is more than Rs. 1000 crore or net worth is more than Rs. 500 crore or net profit is more than Rs 5 crore. Such companies implement the CSR practice in their business and expend on CSR activities which should be 2% of their net profit. CSR is a concept where an organization considers the interest of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders. CSR policies, practices, and programmes are being comprehensively integrated by an increasing number of companies throughout their business operations and processes. This research paper highlights the concept, philosophy, role of CSR in value creation. How Indian companies are treating CSR activities in contemporary environment. In this study we found that community welfare, education and enlightening rural youth is the top priority areas for most Indian Companies.

An Empirical Study of the Financial Mismanagement of Internally Generated Revenue in Ife South Local Government of Osun State, Nigeria

This study focused on financial mismanagement of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in Ife South Local Government. It also identified viable sources of revenue in the local government and examined problems militating against effective collection of revenue. This study was necessitated by the need to ensure increased revenue generation in Ife South local government of Osun State, Nigeria. Primary and secondary sources of data were utilized for the study. The primary data were collected through structured questionnaires. Respondents were selected from career officers in GL. 03-16 in departments and units of finance and supplies, administration, primary healthcare, agriculture, town planning and estate valuation of the local government, thus 180 respondents were sampled representing 29.31% of 614 staff strength of these departments and units of the local government. The questionnaires were administered using descriptive statistical analysis such as frequency and percentage value. The study revealed that there are many viable and non-viable sources of revenue in Ife South local government, the myriad of problems militating against effective collection of the revenue and the poor financial management of internally generated revenue which aptly explains why the local government could not be developed. The study concluded that the share of local government from the statutory allocation be increased, routine auditing and post-auditing from the supervising ministry should be encouraged at the local government level and that the local government should also intensify her effort on increase revenue generation in order to withstand the challenges posed by the current global economic crisis.

Twenty20 Vision of CSR in Kizhakkambalam

A prospective ideology and a value system are the core of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the same is being disseminated through the welfare activities. Thinking beyond the mandatory requirements and getting involved with the lives of the people in the community to alleviate the social problems and thereby creating resilience is the true reflection of such a strong philosophical foundation. The much discussed Kizhakkambalam model had the true beginning as a CSR initiative of Kitex group and now this has grown as a model attracting the attention of policy makers, industrialists and academic community. The involvement of professional social workers and other welfare workers are very well evident in this model with the integration of community people. This article makes an attempt to document the model developed by Kitexgroup in Kizhakkambalam based on a case study. The overall methodology of the study reflects a mixed application of quantitative and qualitative techniques. A base line survey conducted by the Kitex has been considered to understand the target population in the area and the in-depth interviews and group discussions were conducted among the stakeholders, including professionals engaged in the CSR initiatives to study the model. Sufficient literature has also been incorporated to explain the background and theoretical perspective of this study.

Performance of Socially Responsible Portfolios Across Sectors in Indian Stock Market

The question of whether socially responsible stocks outperform or under-perform general stocks has been of keen interest for various researchers and academicians. This paper seeks to empirically examine the performance of socially responsible portfolios across various sectors and index of socially responsible and general companies in Indian stock market. We have taken up S&P ESG and CNX NIFTY as the indices of socially responsible and general companies respectively. ESG index has been classified into six different sectors on the basis of GICS. Performance has been evaluated in terms of risk, return and various risk-adjusted measures like Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio, Double Sharpe ratio, Modified Sharpe ratio, M2 measure, Jensens alpha, Famas decomposition measure, etc. We have also checked whether market model is sufficient to explain cross sectional variation in stock returns or we need Fama-French three factor model. The study period ranges from January 1996 December 2013 and it is further divided into different sub-periods. We find that socially responsible stocks across IT, FMCG and financial sectors are well rewarding in Indian stock market by generating significantly higher returns and outperforming the two indices on the basis of risk-adjusted measures employed during 18 year period and different sub-periods. The results uphold even with the use of market model and Fama-French three factor model by generating highest significant excess returns. There is no empirical evidence on the performance evaluation of socially responsible portfolios across different sectors. Hence this study is first of its kind. This will help investors in selecting best sector for investment in socially responsible companies. Significant higher returns of ESG index and socially responsible stocks across different sectors make Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) a better investment vehicle for investors in India. This is the time when general companies should change their approach and agenda towards CSR and start considering ESG issues as their investment themes. The regulators, policy makers and mutual funds should come up with different socially responsible products and sectoral indices to initiate the movement of SRI across different sectors in India.

A Comparison of CSR Disclosure Guidelines and a Self-Prepared CSR Disclosure Index- A Study of Select Automotive Companies

In India, corporate social responsibility and its disclosure got attention during the eighties and have been gaining importance with time in present economic environment, especially after adoption of liberalization, privatization, and globalization (LPG) (Goswami, 2011). Guidelines, principles, and codes are being developed by various regulatory bodies in India and across the globe to increase transparency and accountability about both a companys daily operations and the impact of these operations on society (Tran, 2014) In this paper, the author has studied the CSR guidelines laid down by Global Reporting Initiative G3.1 (GRI-G-3) and The National Voluntary Guidelines by Ministry of Corporate Affairs (NVG-MCA) and has compared them with a self-composed CSR Disclosure Index (CSRDI). The social responsibility initiatives taken by select Indian Automotive Companies have been analyzed and the companies have been rated as per the disclosures made by them. The main focus of the research is to compare the CSR Rankings of companies as per CSRDI with the companies rankings as per GRI-G-3 and NVG-MCA. It was observed that out of 30 sensex companies, Maruti Suzuki and TATA Motors have been the pioneers in contribution towards CSR initiatives. The top five rated companies were TATA Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Mahindra, Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto, and Apollo Tyres.

State and Social Responsibility of the Corporate: Analysis of the Role of State in India

The present article aims to underscore the role of state in developing the context within which corporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged in India. The paper traces the trajectory of the Indian economy through the five year plans which were considered to be its backbone and which have now been jettisoned. In addition, it takes a critical look at the public rhetoric of the political class to justify CSR in India. The analysis shows that Indian state since Independence has been dominated by the bourgeoisie class and hence even while focusing on planned development, it continued to create pockets of want in the social sector which have eventually been used to provide justification for the mandated CSR in India. The state had neglected the social sector throughout the plan periods. With the onset of privatization, liberalization, and globalization under the structural adjustment in India, the involvement of state in social sector was likely to reduce further. The state therefore pushed for mandatory CSR to fill the likely gap and the political class of the country provided necessary rhetorical justification for the same.

Leverage Analysis of Tata Steel and SAIL

The performance of leading companies in India plays key role in developing industrial sector of the country. The leverage has an important role in determining the financial strength that is essential for the development of corporate sector of the country. In the present study, operating leverage, financial leverage, and combined leverage have been analyzed and it is concluded that the leverage of the companies under study is not proper, needs restructuring and differs from company to company significantly.

Integrating Ethics in Finance and Accounting Courses using Ethical Banks as Vignette

The field of Business Ethics has an important role to play in identifying and establishing ethical parameters for business activities. Ethics professors have the continued challenge of being able to deliver ethics and morality teachings in the classroom. One topic in the area of business ethics and social enterprise that has begun hogging the pages of business and social responsibility research articles is the field of ethical banking. The ethical-social nature of the mission of ethical banks makes for an interesting discussion piece and scenario for a case-based teaching of business ethics. This paper presents the case of showing ethical banks as vignette in finance and ethics classes at the University of the Philippines, aimed at making students aware that it is possible for businessmen to be socially and ethically oriented and at the same time keep in mind the need for financial sustainability. The methodology involved content analysis and tests of differences based on a survey of 141 undergraduate business students. Results show overwhelming positive response to the concept of the ethical bank. 96% of the student respondents were in admiration of the ethical raison detre of ethical banks and 93% opined that it pays to be ethical. There was no difference between male and female respondents in opining that it pays to be ethical. Overall, results corroborate the mounting evidence that there is an ever greater awareness of the ethical responsibilities of business and discernment of the form that ethics can take in specific enterprises.