Documents fraud 32 results

"A wave of financial irregularity in the USA in 2001–2 culminated in the Sarbanes–Oxley Act. A worldwide stockmarket bubble burst over this same period, with the actual market decline being proportionately more severe in Europe. Yet, no corresponding wave of financial scandals involving a similar level of companies occurred in Europe. Given the higher level of public and private enforcement in the USA for securities fraud, this contrast seems perplexing. This paper submits that different kinds of scandals characterize different systems of corporate governance. In particular, dispersed ownership systems of governance are prone to the forms of earnings management that erupted in the USA, but concentrated ownership systems are much less vulnerable. Instead, the characteristic scandal in such systems is the appropriation of private benefits of control. This paper suggests that this difference in the likely source of, and motive for, financial misconduct has implications both for the utility of gatekeepers as reputational intermediaries and for design of legal controls to protect public shareholders. The difficulty in achieving auditor independence in a corporation with a controlling shareholder may also imply that minority shareholders in concentrated ownership economies should directly select their own gatekeepers."

"Fraud and abuse in the spending of public monies plague governments around the world. In the United States the False Claims Act encourages whistleblowing by private individuals to expose evidence of fraud. They are rewarded for their efforts with monetary compensation and protection from retaliation. Such is not the case in Canada, England, and Australia. Although some recent legislation has increased the protections afforded to whistleblowers, they are still likely to be viewed more as disloyal employees than courageous public servants, and there is little incentive to risk their jobs and reputation. Qui tam laws provide a police force of thousands in the effort to reduce rampant fraud, waste, and abuse, and would be an asset in any health-care system where pubic health policy requires conservation of resources."