Write a 3000-word Appraisal Report where you will evaluate an organisation's risk governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices aga
Assignment 2
Write a 3000-word Appraisal Report where you will evaluate an organisation's risk governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices against relevant legislation, theories and principles (or guidelines). You will also provide constructive suggestions for improvement in risk governance and CSR practices.
Subject Learning Outcomes
Demonstrate advanced understanding of contemporary corporate governance theory, frameworks and practice.
Critically evaluate and effectively communicate complex concepts to recommend improvements relating to corporate governance and organisational issues.
Apply corporate governance laws, theory and techniques to professional practice in an ethical manner.
Completing Learning Activities in Modules 4, 5, 6 and 7 will help you develop your responses to assessment 2.
Task
Step 1
Select a company of your choice (preferably a publicly listed company due to data availability) and retrieve relevant corporate governance information.
As explained in Module 1 (i.e. Activity 1.2), you will find corporate governance information disclosed in the company's most recent annual report (Australian companies), proxy statement (US companies), management proxy circular (Canadian companies), company website or any other company statements.
Step 2
Based on the disclosed information and relevant governance legislation, principles, guidelines and theories, evaluate your selected organisation's governance practices according to the following perspectives:
Part A. Governance of Corporate Risk
Investigate and discuss your selected organisation's current risk framework, including a discussion of the board committee responsible for risk management.
Identify at leasteight risks(i.e. at least one from each of the strategic, management-level and operational areas) for your chosen organisation using any method we learned in Module 5. Assess and evaluate the recognised risks by their impact and probability (allocating a level from 1 to 5) and use the tool provided inActivity 5.2: Risk recognition, evaluation and risk mappingto map the risks into a risk matrix. Finally, discuss appropriate risk management policies forfourof the eight identified risks. Hint: seeCorporate Governance in Action 8.2: Levels of risk management policy in a London finance house, pages 214-215 of the textbook.You must support your discussion using evidence from academic journal articles, industry reports, and the textbook.
Part B. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability
Discuss the relevant board committee and the conformance and performance functions of your selected organisation's board in its CSR and sustainability.
Critically evaluate and discuss at least three CSR and sustainability practices of your selected organisation (at least one practice of each type: environmental, social and governance) and how such practices affect its short-term and long-term performance/goals.You must support your discussion using evidence from academic journal articles, industry reports, and the textbook.
In discussing the risk governance, CSR and sustainability practices, discuss relevant corporate governance principles and theories that are applicable. Where possible, draw out and discuss the implications of your findings for the conformance and performance functions of the board.
Part C. Recommendations to the Board
Provide constructive suggestions for improvement in risk governance, CSR and sustainability to the board of the chosen organisation.
Example report structure
The following is a suggested structure only.
Cover Page
Executive summary (ES) (250 words maximum)
Table of Contents (TOC)
Introduction (about 150 words)
Risk governance (about 1,200 words)
Corporate social responsibility and sustainability (about 1,200 words)
Recommendations to the Board: (about 300 words)
Conclusions (about 150 words)
References
Format and other requirements
Define critical terminology when they are mentioned for the first time in the report.
The required word length for this report is3,000 words(plus 10% allowance).
In terms of structure, presentation, and style you are required to use:
AIB standard report format (AIB Report template)
AIB preferred Microsoft Word settings - see theAIB Style GuideThis assessment requires you to use a minimum ofsix (6)credible academic sources in addition to your textbook. You may also use current company, industry, government and media sources to support your statements, but these will NOT count toward the minimum required credible academic sources for your assessment. Most web-based sources are not sufficiently rigorous and credible for use in academic assessments and will NOT count toward the minimum required credible academic sources for your assessment. For further guidance, refer toScholarly, academic & peer-reviewed journals.
You must follow AIBAssessment guidelinesand appropriately acknowledge all sources of information following theAIB Style Guide. This includes the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT. See relevant sections on 'Academic Integrity', 'Generative Artificial Intelligence' and 'Referencing' in theAIB Style Guideand Assessment Policies and Procedures.
If you are unable to paraphrase when referring directly to a policy, make sure to enclose the policy text within quotation marks to avoid a breach of academic integrity.
Resources
Please use publicly available secondary data only.
Prescribed textbook and learning materials and readings from Modules 46.
Disclosed governance information sources: annual reports (Australian companies), proxy statements (US organisations), management proxy circular (Royal Bank of Canada management proxy circular2023), company website, or other company statements.
Corporate governance codes: ASX CGOV Recommendations & Principles, OECD principles, NYSE CGOV guide, ECGI principles, AICD non-for-profit governance principles, TSX Corporate Governance guidelines.
Assessment example
Please note the example provided received a 'Credit' grade and is intended for indicative purposes only. Its substance and form are different from those of your second Assessment.
Assessment 2 example (.pdf)Grading criteria and feedback
Your assessment will be marked according to theAssessment 2 rubric (.pdf).
Access your grade and individual feedback below once your OLF advises that grades have been released. Refer toWhere is my grade and feedback?for guidance.
Assignment 1
Board papers are documents prepared for the board of directors ahead of their meetings. They contain detailed information on various agenda items, enabling directors to make informed decisions.
As a board member with expertise in good governance from the knowledge and skills obtained in your studies in the CGOV subject, you have been asked by the board chair to critically evaluate the organisation's corporate governance practices, particularly those related to board structure and board diversity against relevant principles, guidelines, and theories. You will also investigate and analyse which legislation and corporate governance principles your selected organisation must comply with or voluntarily follow. The audience for your paper is the board of your chosen company. You will prepare the board paper as a written Word document using the provided template.
Subject Learning Outcomes
Demonstrate advanced understanding of contemporary corporate governance theory, frameworks and practice.
Critically evaluate and effectively communicate complex concepts to recommend improvements relating to corporate governance and organisational issues.
Apply corporate governance laws, theory, and techniques to professional practice in an ethical manner.
Completing Learning Activities in Modules 1, 2 and 3 will help you develop your responses to assessment 1.
Task
Step 1
Select a company and one of its competitors (preferably publicly listed companies due to data availability) and retrieve relevant corporate governance information. As explained in Activity 1.2 Board structure, you will find the corporate governance information disclosed in the companys most recent annual report (Australian companies), proxy statement (US companies), management proxy circular (Canadian companies), company website or any other company statements. For example, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia provides governance information in its annual report:Commonwealth Bank annual report(2023). You can usually find these documents on the organisation's or regulator's website, and a few examples have been provided for you on theReference Documentspage.
Step 2
Based on the disclosed information, your board paper should evaluate your selected organisations governance practices according to the following perspectives:
Board structure: Critically discuss and compare the overall board structure (in terms of unitary versus two-tier, executive versus non-executive directors, connected versus independent directors, CEO duality versus CEO separation, any additional directorships of other boards, etc.) of your selected organisation, with those of the competitor.You must support your discussion using evidence from academic journal articles, industry reports, and the textbook.
Board diversity:Critically discuss and compare the board diversity of your selected organisation with that of the competitor firm, including diversity in skill and experience, gender, age and any other social or cultural aspects of directors.You must support your discussion using evidence from academic journal articles, industry reports, and the textbook.
In the critical analysis of the board structure and diversity, discuss relevant corporate governance laws, principles, guidelines and theories that are applicable. Draw out and discuss the implications of your findings for the conformance and performance functions of the board.
Recommendations for your selected organisation:Provide constructive suggestions for improvement to the board of the chosen organisation (i.e., not the competitor but for the chosen organisation only).
Requirements
Use theboard paper template (.doc)provided. The suggested word counts for each section has been provided in the template.
Define critical terminology when they are mentioned for the first time in the paper.
The required word length for this paper is 2,000 words (plus 10% allowance).
This assessment requires you to use a minimum offour (4)credible academic sources. You may also use current company, industry, government and media sources to support your statements, but these will NOT count toward the minimum required credible academic sources for your assessment. Most web-based sources are not sufficiently rigorous and credible for use in academic assessments and will NOT count toward the minimum required credible academic sources for your assessment. For further guidance, refer toScholarly, academic & peer-reviewed journals.
You must appropriately acknowledge all sources of information in your assessment with the AIB Harvard author-date style of referencing see theAIB Style GuideandAcademic Policies and Procedures. This includes the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT. See relevant sections on 'Academic Integrity', 'Generative Artificial Intelligence' and 'Referencing' in theAIB Style Guideand Assessment Policies and Procedures.
Resources
Use theBoard paper template (.doc). Kindly read the embedded feedback to know what is required for each section.
Please use publicly available secondary data only.
Prescribed textbook and learning materials and readings from Modules 13.
Disclosed governance information sources: annual reports (Australian companies), proxy statements (US organisations), management proxy circulars (Canadian organisations), company websites, or other company statements.
Corporate governance codes: ASX CGOV Recommendations & Principles, OECD principles, NYSE CGOV guide, ECGI principles, AICD non-for-profit governance principles, TSX Corporate Governance guidelines.
