We ask four top accountants to assess the act designed to stop company fraud The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has generally accomplished what legislators intended. Investors have more confidence in financial markets, and chief executives and chief financial officers of listed companies are more accountable for their organizations’ financial statements and securities filings. Equally, Sarbanes-Oxley has altered…
China sees itself as an incubator for top companies rather than the workshop of the world, say Orit Gadiesh, Paul di Paola, Luca Caruso and Oi Chung Leung China’s rise as the world’s factory is well known. But another story is unfolding with amazing speed: China as a huge market for multinational companies (MNCs) and…
Despite the continuing violence, firms can thrive in Iraq as long as they pay attention to security and local values, says Heyrick Bond Gunning The day that George Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq were over was the day I flew into Baghdad’s Saddam International Airport, hoping to play a part in the country’s…
The internet has already brought huge efficiencies to retailing and choice to consumers, says Stelios Haji-Ioannou. There is more to come The internet revolution of the late 1990s came with much hype and consequent fallout but a distinct legacy has been left behind. With the click of a mouse and from the comfort of their…
Despite the rejection of the European constitution by French and Dutch voters, says Daniel Hannan, it will be implemented You may have got the idea that the European Union (EU) constitution was dead: that the French had felled it, and the Dutch had pounded a stake through its heart. If so, think again. One way…
Ireland’s economic success has been built on its openness, says Mary Harney, its deputy prime minister Ireland is one of the most globalized, open countries in the world. You don’t just have to take my word for it. Since 2001, Foreign Policy and AT Kearney have published an annual Globalization Index. In three of the…
Even now women find it impossible to clone the male career path, say Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce. Companies have to find ways to adapt Over the past two years there has been a noisy debate on both sides of the Atlantic over what Lisa Belkin of The New York Times has called…
Korea’s OhmyNews has rewritten the rules of journalism, according to its founder, Oh Yeon Ho Who could have imagined that the internet, first developed in America for military purposes, would cross the Pacific and sow the seeds of citizens’ journalism in Korea? Yes, the internet originated in America. But citizen-generated internet journalism started first in…
Science without the scientific method simply does not work, says Pervez Hoodbhoy. That is the problem Muslim societies have to confront The devastating earthquake of last October shook the foundations of not just the buildings of northern Pakistan. It also showed how shallow the underpinnings of science are even among the graduate physics students that…
The solutions to the global refugee crisis are simple, says Angelina Jolie, if only we had the will to address it Only half a century ago – a blink of the eye in human history – there were at least 40 million refugees and displaced people here in Europe: the product of Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s…
