Corporate Finance And Governance

[Glendora Spink]

AmandaBellucco-Chatham is an editor, writer, and fact-checker with years of experience researching personal finance topics. Specialties include general financial planning, career development, lending, retirement, tax preparation, and credit.

A board of directors should consist of a diverse group of individuals, including those with matching business knowledge and skills, and others who can bring a fresh perspective from outside the company and industry.

Corporate governance is important because it creates a system of rules and practices that determines how a company operates and how it aligns with the interest of all its stakeholders. Good corporate governance fosters ethical business practices, which lead to financial viability. In turn, that can attract investors.

Topics of interest include: capital structure, corporate and securities law, corporate culture, corporate failure, corporate finance and public policy, corporate governance, corporate restructuring, corporate social responsibility, crowdfunding, dividends, payout policy, and repurchases, entrepreneurial finance, family business, financial contracting, financial intermediation, financial literacy, fintech, fraud, innovation, IPOs and SEOs, mergers and acquisitions, misconduct, private debt, private equity, trade credit, socially responsible investments, sustainable finance, real options, and venture capital.

The conference offers an interdisciplinary forum to gain feedback on timely working papers from scholars in finance, entrepreneurship, innovation, international business, law, management and accounting disciplines.

Submission Deadline: August 31, 2024.

We prefer a full paper but if necessary you may submit a shorter 10-page abstract if a completed paper will be ready one month prior to the conference.

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For public companies, and some private companies that know they are IPO bound, corporate governance efforts in the finance organization largely center around SOX, which has significantly evolved since the law was enacted nearly 20 years ago. Companies that have mastered SOX compliance have built in efficiencies into their SOX program, overcome past tendencies to accept a bloated controls system, and know they need to be flexible. Key areas of risk change every year, as do the view of what controls are sufficient.

Financial governance refers to the way a company collects, manages, monitors and controls financial information. Financial governance includes how companies track financial transactions, manage performance and control data, compliance, operations, and disclosures.

Good financial governance ensures financial data is correct.

When organizations place controls on financial data, you can be sure finance teams are using the correct version of data to complete reports, budgets, plans and other financial documents. Controls can include:

ESG is a framework that helps stakeholders understand how an organization is managing risks and opportunities related to environmental, social, and governance criteria (sometimes called ESG factors). ESG takes the holistic view that sustainability extends beyond just environmental issues.

A hallmark of ESG is how social impact expectations have extended outside the walls of the company and to supply chain partners, particularly those in developing economies where environmental and labor standards may be less robust.

As far back as the 1980s, organizations in the United States were considering how to use regulation to manage or reduce pollution (and other negative externalities) produced in the pursuit of economic growth. They sought to also improve employee labor and safety standards, although much progress remains to be made even today.

By the early 2000s, the corporate sustainability movement began to integrate ideas around how companies should respond to social issues. This would become known as corporate social responsibility.

Corporate philanthropy was a key component of CSR, although some critics argue that tax incentives made cash donations as attractive as their ultimate economic impact on recipients. Employee volunteerism was another hallmark of CSR.

ESG has now evolved into a comprehensive framework that includes key elements around environmental and social impact, as well as how governance structures can be amended to maximize stakeholder well-being.

Many ESG investment vehicles have emerged, including green bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, and index funds (among others). These publicly traded instruments make it easier for investors to align their investment decisions more closely with their own beliefs and values around E, S, or G factors.

If someone is an ESG specialist, it can mean a number of things. But in general, this is someone with very strong analytical skills and a comprehensive understanding of how ESG factors relate to risks and opportunities.

ESG specialists may work in the analyst community, perhaps with institutional investors or investment banks. Alternatively, they may work in industry, at either private or public companies. In all instances, they are either directly or indirectly supporting organizations in their efforts to reach net zero emissions and/or carbon neutrality.

In the public markets (in particular), there is growing pressure by regulators and other stakeholders that issuers produce clear, transparent, and comparable ESG disclosure alongside other quarterly filings and annual reporting.

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Law, Finance and Governance is a non-partisan program of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law that links the legal and business knowledge of scholars, industry professionals, and policymakers to stimulate new ideas, encourage knowledge-sharing, support learning and research and foster networks.

The goal of the program is to generate open and vigorous exchange about the leading problems and issues in the financial and corporate arenas. The program aims to accomplish this goal through its educational programs and events for law students and the community of practitioners, regulators and business people. The program also connects the expertise of the Moritz law community, including its many alumni, with the interdisciplinary strengths of The Ohio State University to provide critical information and guidance for law students, policymakers, the industry and scholars. The program on Law, Finance and Governance works in partnership with students and groups of the Moritz College of Law and with public and private organizations.

The Intellectual Property Speaker Series, sponsored by Emerson Thomson Bennett, provides discussion and insights on current issues in patents and patent prosecution, copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property practice areas.

The Law, Finance and Governance program sponsors talks and events focusing on issues facing women in business law, and showcasing influential women business lawyers and executives. The series is made possible by funding from generous donors committed to advancing women in the legal profession.

The Speakers Series on Corporate Restructuring brings leading attorneys to Moritz to speak with students about the legal practice of reorganizing the various structures and operations of a company, in order to make the company more profitable, or better able to manage its needs. The series is sponsored by Robert Miller, former corporate general counsel/global legal for The Procter & Gamble Company.

The Kephart Fisher Business of Law Series presents programs, such as conferences, lectures, and symposia, on various topics related to the business side of the practice of law. The series is sponsored by Kephart Fisher LLC.

This initiative, launched in 2015, brings successful business people, many of whom are also lawyers, to the Moritz College of Law to discuss their businesses and non-legal careers in business, including roles such as CEOs, COOs, venture capitalists, business developers, etc. Speakers offer insight into topics such as starting a business, risk and business development, executive decision-making and transitioning from attorney to business person. Students learn from professionals in the field about developing essential skills like leadership, management ability, and team-building, and hear first-hand about risk and opportunity in business.

The General Counsel Series brings leading attorneys of prominent businesses to The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law to speak to law students about their role as general counsel and about current topics in their industry. The series was designed to help students understand the role of the attorney in a business context and to understand the skills they must develop to be successful in-house, and to provide career models for Moritz students who hope to work as general counsel at some point in their careers. The series, an integral part of the program, has hosted in-house counsel from OhioHealth, DHL Supply Chain, The Andersons, Goldman Sachs, BuzzFeed, Cardinal Health, Honda, Express, Limited Brands, Hosting.com, and Dun & Bradstreet, among others.

The program on Law, Finance and Governance organizes conferences on issues related to business law, often in collaboration with student organizations and law journals, other departments and colleges at Ohio State, law firms, or non-profit organizations.

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