Structure of assignment

Executive summary

Background

(3 to 4 problem definition and recommendation would be sufficient, quality matters not numbers, do it with concepts examples strictly to the point)

(Separate references has to be given for both the parts)

Keep your focus to usa, uk and Australia, adopt corporate governance like anglo saxion approach which has same level of culture and development so what is correct for usa, uk will also hold correct for Australia.

Part 1

Background : discuss below in background

1. Chairman ASX 200 company , who have requested for this report.

2. AICD - target of 30% by 2018

3. Diversity : explain it and then explain gender diversity is one important part.

4. Important : Company needs to be doing it i.e. taking action for this issue not just saying it.

5. females must be qualified and skilled always.

6. To fight groupthink/ avoid groupthink why it is negative (not positive) for corporate governance :- board of director challenge management to minimize the risk for projects, challenge the person positively

7.

A. give one good example : - one big company have diversity , why it is good, how many females are employed on key roles.
B. give one bad example :- one company having less diversity , why it is bad and relevance to diversity and female diversity.
Problem & Recommendation :
- What is the evidence : for e.g. issue of stakeholder participation, corruption etc, explain about it.
- What are the areas where the business have improved and risk of group think.
- Evidences: search for evidences from academic articles only, media articles would provide only generic view on the topic.
- Explain 3 or 4 problems and recommendations : explain why they are good or bad, how they works in context of diversity and corporate governance (we can take help from ASX principles but just don't explain principles in itself, do it in your own words by relating it to the diversity and gender diversity)
- For e.g. one point can be board need to evidence diversity by link of nomination committee for good governance and diversity.
- Link recommendations to examples chosen in background section.
- Consider diversity in terms of moving in other business so diverse set of skills are better for different business.
- Negetive : Without diversity you are likely to encounter the problem of group think, problem in groupthink because of same belief, cultures and values, it would present by not having diversity. How diversity allows to challenge logically the decision of directors( key negative dimention)

Part 2 : Background

1. ASA, who is client, why report has to be made. First Step is to define the Role of Australian shareholder association , what are their goals and mission and statement of purpose.

2. define whistleblower and assessment related concepts.

3. Example of one good outcome in one company : where in company has good whistle blower policy and whistleblower have got protected by that policy.

4. example of one bad outcome in one company : where in company have done wrong with whisleblower.

See the scandals of target and accounting frauds, who is going to be affected which means stakeholders, share prices , board itself.
See the case of comminsure : not so much fraud, it was about policy decision making which was income protection insurance, suffered brand damage.

5. Communication : Internal and external , talk about internal processes in case of whistle blowing for e.g. senior manager or director or internal audit division or company secretary etc. there has to be one channel externally as well. Key to good corporate governance in good companies is problem understood faster and solution faster and effective.

Recommendations

If you don't have whistle blower what will happen, because they identify bad behavior in management and problems & risks in companies , so to minimize those risk of fraud and relate to public interest you require whistle blowers.
4 or 5 recommendations are required with at least 7 to 8 references for this part as well.

Part 1

Assessment Criteria:
- Demonstration of knowledge of the issues and evidence of wide reading to support your analysis
- Demonstration of your ability to apply the knowledge to identify keys issues leading to your recommendations
- Evidence of sound reasoning and the exercise of professional judgement to support your recommendations
- Development and statement of concise recommendations for presentation to the Chairman
- Overall structure and professional presentation of your report to the Chairman
- High quality written communication of concepts and terms as the Chairman can be assumed to be professionally competent in corporate governance

"One is a token, two is a presence, three is a voice. Sound familiar? This seems to be the effect of placing women on corporate boards. Although corporate leaders may think otherwise, academic research seems to find this effect again and again.
In Australia, women hold 14.2 per cent of board chairs, 23.6 per cent of directorships, and 15.4 percent of CEO roles. In recent months, the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and the Business Council of Australia (BCA) have called for greater gender diversity in Australian boards.
There was an attempt by senator Nick Xenophon to legislate gender diversity in Australian government boards; however, the bill was later rejected by a government-controlled Senate Committee.
The AICD has set a target of 30 percent female board members and urged S&P / ASX 200 firms to meet the target by the end of 2018'.

Reza Monem, "Three women is not a crowd on a company board', The Australian Financial Review, Friday 22 April 2016, p.35

Required

Assume you have been employed as a corporate governance consultant by a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and ranked within the ASX 200. The Chairman of the company has decided to address the issue of gender diversity on the company's board to ensure the board meets the AICD target by the end of 2018. As an initial step in the process of increasing the gender diversity of the board the Chairman has employed you to prepare a report that critically analyses and assesses the evidence that gender diversity on a company board is associated with improved business performance and also provide recommendations on how the company should initiate a gender diversity policy for the board.

Your report will be tabled at the next board meeting for board members to review and evaluate your recommendations.

Part 2

Assessment Criteria:

- Demonstration of knowledge of the issues and evidence of wide reading to support your analysis
- Demonstration of your ability to apply the knowledge to identify keys issues leading to your recommendations
- Evidence of sound reasoning and the exercise of professional judgement to support your recommendations
- Development and statement of concise recommendations for presentation to the AII
- Overall structure and professional presentation of your report to the ASA
- High quality written communication of concepts and terms in ordinary English as the report will be published on the ASA web site and not all readers can be assumed to be professionally competent in corporate governance

‘There are many examples in Australia of whistleblowers being retrenched or punished for being brave enough to reveal issues in the public interest.

It is unfortunate but not uncommon for whistleblowers to be forced to take costly actions through the courts or Fair Work Commission after losing their jobs.

The move to uncover best practice in whistleblowing in the private sector is timely given the recent high-profile scandals at Target and CommInsure as well as the allegations of a broken corporate culture which was raised during Labor's call for a royal commission into financial services. Whistleblowers revealed unethical behaviour at the Westfarmers-owned discount 10 department store Target and at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia subsidiary CommInsure. The Target case involved an unknown person in the accounts department tipping off management about the use of supplier rebates to create about $20 million in additional profits in the half year to December.
Seven people have been sacked following that disclosure and former Target CEO Stuart Machin has left Westfarmers while denying all knowledge of what happened.

In the CommInsure case, chief medical officer Benjamin Koh claimed doctors were pressured to change medical reports, patient's files were deleted and claims delayed as part of a strategy to avoid policy pay-outs. Koh lost his job for breaching CBA's IT policy relating to taking client files home. But at this stage it would appear his actions have been vindicated given that CBA chief executive Ian Narev has apologised for what happened'.

Tony Boyd ‘ASIC backs whistleblower project', The Australia Financial Review, Friday 15 April 2016 p.40

Required

Assume you have been employed as a corporate governance consultant by the Australian Shareholders Association (ASA). The ASA is concerned with the risks associated with investments in corporations that do not have a ‘best practice' whistleblower policy. In order to minimise this risk the ASA wants to know what are the best-practice contemporary standards for whistleblower policies. Your assignment is to prepare a report to be published on the ASA web site recommending best-practice whistleblower policy for adoption by listed companies on the Australian stock exchange.