S-chips and corporate governance

Excerpt

In December 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy after it was revealed that much of its debts and the losses that it suffered were not reported in its financial statements. In June 2002, the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation on the telecom group WorldCom. The company admitted it had misreported USD3.9bn in expenses. In Europe, in July 2002, shares in the then world second largest media company Vivendi Universal plummeted over 40 % in two sessions, after an article in the French newspaper Le Monde claimed that the company had tried to add EUR1.5bni (USD2.1bn) to its 2001 accounts as part of a complex transaction. More recently, in January 2009, Satyam Computer Services’ chairman notified the board and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that the company’s accounts had been falsified: over INR50bnii (USD1.12bn) of cash and bank balance reported as of 30 September 2008 were non-existent, the quarterly operating margin had been inflated to 24 % from 3 % and the revenue was overstated by INR6bn (USD135m). Those recent issues and increasing media coverage have risen investors’ and the general public’s awareness that a company not only needs to be profitable, but should also be managed in a transparent and accountable way. In other words, corporate governance seems to be playing a more and more significant role. …