Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: FINANCIAL REPORTING AND GOVERNANCE

Department: Management

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 1.5

Description: The focus of the course is on the economics of financial reporting. Specifically, the course will emphasize the role of financial reporting as an important control system in corporate governance. In light of the major corporate scandals such as Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Xerox, and Société Générale as well as the recent global financial crisis, there have been increased concerns over the failure of financial reporting as a control system. As a result, many voluntary and mandatory changes to the corporate governance structure have been proposed or implemented. Within this context of the sea of governance changes, the course will examine corporate governance functions, including top management, boards of directors and audit committees, internal control and risk assessment, external auditors and independence, fraud detection, and SEC reviews of filings and enforcement activities. We will evaluate how these functions have performed historically as well as identify and evaluate the financial reporting policies, procedures, and controls that can be employed to promote good corporate governance and ethical decisions. Special attention will be paid to the rapidly changing environment affecting corporate management as they respond to the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and various followup reforms. The course will combine leading edge academic thought with contemporary real-life cases to examine these issues. Repeatable for Credit.