The Future of Financial Regulation: Enhancing integrity through design. The global financial crisis and the attendant collapse of major financial institutions have called into question the efficacy of financial regulation and the standards of conduct of the key actors in the financial services sectors and financial markets. Ethical conduct is fundamental to the integrity of Australia's financial services sector and financial markets. This project will make a valuable and innovative contribution ....The Future of Financial Regulation: Enhancing integrity through design. The global financial crisis and the attendant collapse of major financial institutions have called into question the efficacy of financial regulation and the standards of conduct of the key actors in the financial services sectors and financial markets. Ethical conduct is fundamental to the integrity of Australia's financial services sector and financial markets. This project will make a valuable and innovative contribution to the national priority goal of strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric by assisting market actors fulfil their professional roles in an ethical manner. By so doing it accords with the national priority goals of promoting an innovation culture and economy, and safeguarding Australia.Read moreRead less
The limits of disclosure: private rights, public duties and the search for accountable governance. A reliance on technical considerations such as enhanced disclosure, literacy programs and attempts to bifurcate between sophisticated and unsophisticated investors has each proved sub-optimal in the search for greater, or more accurately, effective accountability both here in Australia and internationally. The acceptance by the corporate sector to process risk allocation, develop a mutually endors ....The limits of disclosure: private rights, public duties and the search for accountable governance. A reliance on technical considerations such as enhanced disclosure, literacy programs and attempts to bifurcate between sophisticated and unsophisticated investors has each proved sub-optimal in the search for greater, or more accurately, effective accountability both here in Australia and internationally. The acceptance by the corporate sector to process risk allocation, develop a mutually endorsed formal and informal regulatory framework, and agree on clear and transparent roles and responsibilities marks a significant step forward. It is both significant and innovative that the design and implementation of the proposed strategic plan will derive from an extended exercise in deliberative democracy.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101413
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$368,216.00
Summary
Organisations' Wrongdoing: from Metaphysics to Practice. This project aims to explain how organisations can do wrong and apply this explanation to the Banking Royal Commission and Paris Climate Agreement. The project expects to use the methods of analytic philosophy and law to contribute to, and integrate, three increasingly isolated fields: metaphysics, moral philosophy, and law. Expected outcomes include a much-improved scholarly, legal, and public understanding of how organisations exist, per ....Organisations' Wrongdoing: from Metaphysics to Practice. This project aims to explain how organisations can do wrong and apply this explanation to the Banking Royal Commission and Paris Climate Agreement. The project expects to use the methods of analytic philosophy and law to contribute to, and integrate, three increasingly isolated fields: metaphysics, moral philosophy, and law. Expected outcomes include a much-improved scholarly, legal, and public understanding of how organisations exist, persist, act, have characters, and can be punished—as distinct from the individuals on whom they depend, and despite the fact that we cannot see or touch organisations. This should provide significant benefits, such as guiding commercial, legislative, and regulatory responses to organisational wrongdoing.Read moreRead less
Conceiving and Implementing National Integrity Systems Assessments (NISA). Integrity and corruption are conceptually linked opposites. Integrity systems (or 'ethics regimes') are the most powerful tools for dealing with corruption. They involve a range of institutions, law, procedures, practices and attitudes which encourage integrity and discourage/sanction its absence among public servants and those who might wish to corrupt them. This project will examine the way Australian government and bus ....Conceiving and Implementing National Integrity Systems Assessments (NISA). Integrity and corruption are conceptually linked opposites. Integrity systems (or 'ethics regimes') are the most powerful tools for dealing with corruption. They involve a range of institutions, law, procedures, practices and attitudes which encourage integrity and discourage/sanction its absence among public servants and those who might wish to corrupt them. This project will examine the way Australian government and business integrity systems (some of which have received international praise for their design and conception) function in order to improve their operation in Australia and to provide examples for other countries.Read moreRead less
The Ethics of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). This project investigates the ethical credentials of ethical investment - also known as Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) - in Australia. It will examine problems with SRI operations (such as screening, application of decision-making criteria and compliance monitoring) from the perspective of ethical theory; issues of shareholder advocacy; and the clash of ethical and fiduciary responsibility. It aims to make SRI more effective in connec ....The Ethics of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). This project investigates the ethical credentials of ethical investment - also known as Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) - in Australia. It will examine problems with SRI operations (such as screening, application of decision-making criteria and compliance monitoring) from the perspective of ethical theory; issues of shareholder advocacy; and the clash of ethical and fiduciary responsibility. It aims to make SRI more effective in connecting investors? values to their investments by developing tools for SRI fund managers to exercise more sophisticated forms of ethical reasoning and decision making. This project opens up possibilities of significant transformation of capital markets within Australia.Read moreRead less
Business and democracy: Power, profit and participation. The project aims to explain how business influences democracy. While business and democracy are mutually reinforcing domains in any healthy and vibrant society, there are concerns about the way corporations may unduly influence or even curtail democratic processes. This project expects to generate new knowledge on how industry translates economic power into political influence. This includes the development of a new theory of power and a m ....Business and democracy: Power, profit and participation. The project aims to explain how business influences democracy. While business and democracy are mutually reinforcing domains in any healthy and vibrant society, there are concerns about the way corporations may unduly influence or even curtail democratic processes. This project expects to generate new knowledge on how industry translates economic power into political influence. This includes the development of a new theory of power and a methodology for examining political connections. This should provide significant benefits to public dialogue and policymakers concerning the task of strengthening citizen voice and decision-making in Australia and globally. Read moreRead less
A Longitudinal Study of Recurrent Audit Failure in Australian Corporate Collapses from 1885 to the Present. As starkly illustrated with Enron in the US and with HIH in Australia, corporate collapse and audit failure may be interrelated. In response to repeated instances of audit failure, legislative and other reforms are typically adopted in order to ensure that auditor indiscretions are curtailed. Unfortunately, audit failure persists. This longitudinal Australian study of audit failure in the ....A Longitudinal Study of Recurrent Audit Failure in Australian Corporate Collapses from 1885 to the Present. As starkly illustrated with Enron in the US and with HIH in Australia, corporate collapse and audit failure may be interrelated. In response to repeated instances of audit failure, legislative and other reforms are typically adopted in order to ensure that auditor indiscretions are curtailed. Unfortunately, audit failure persists. This longitudinal Australian study of audit failure in the context of corporate collapse from the mid 1880s aims to enhance an understanding of audit failure and why it recurs. The study's findings are expected to inform future enquires and court cases and assist in developing public policy and future legislative reforms.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100950
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$458,798.00
Summary
Automated People Management: When algorithms manage employees. This project aims to explain the impact of technologies that automate people management. Through four integrated studies, this project expects to generate new knowledge on a currently invisible set of managerial and industrial practices that are profoundly reshaping work and employment relations. Expected outcomes include the first typology of automated people management technologies that will be used to reveal where and how automate ....Automated People Management: When algorithms manage employees. This project aims to explain the impact of technologies that automate people management. Through four integrated studies, this project expects to generate new knowledge on a currently invisible set of managerial and industrial practices that are profoundly reshaping work and employment relations. Expected outcomes include the first typology of automated people management technologies that will be used to reveal where and how automated people management is occurring in Australia and its effects on managers and workers. This much needed research should provide significant practical benefit to organisations and inform emerging policy and frameworks for the responsible adoption of AI and digital technologies in Australian workplaces. Read moreRead less
Professions, Professional Standards and Capital Markets in the 21st Century: Regulatory Engagement, Design and Strategies. This project aims to advance academic knowledge of professional obligation within capital markets. The objective is to develop practical mechanisms to test and validate oversight programs designed to advance professional standards within the established professions of law and audit and those who aspire to that status (financial advisers and broker/dealers). The research uses ....Professions, Professional Standards and Capital Markets in the 21st Century: Regulatory Engagement, Design and Strategies. This project aims to advance academic knowledge of professional obligation within capital markets. The objective is to develop practical mechanisms to test and validate oversight programs designed to advance professional standards within the established professions of law and audit and those who aspire to that status (financial advisers and broker/dealers). The research uses an innovative conceptual framework that delineates rights, duties and responsibilities and measures capacity to deliver stated commitment to market integrity, thereby attending to the specific and pressing problems faced by the partner organisations. The project aims to provide warranted trust in the commitment of the professions to higher standards, thereby restoring market confidence.Read moreRead less
A Just Climate Transition. Australia's climate transition will have to drastically cut our national emissions. Yet our transition also needs to be fair. This project will develop a social justice framework for the implementation of a zero net emissions climate transition for rural Victoria. This will be the first comprehensive incorporation of social justice framework with detailed mitigation strategies for rural Australia. The research will combine insights from leading Australian and internat ....A Just Climate Transition. Australia's climate transition will have to drastically cut our national emissions. Yet our transition also needs to be fair. This project will develop a social justice framework for the implementation of a zero net emissions climate transition for rural Victoria. This will be the first comprehensive incorporation of social justice framework with detailed mitigation strategies for rural Australia. The research will combine insights from leading Australian and international energy groups and current research to produce valuable inputs into a national just transitions strategy and provide benefits to Industry partners and the sector. The project will significantly contribute to our understanding of a just climate transition.Read moreRead less