Corporate Governance: A Pragmatic Guide for Auditors, Directors, Investors, and Accountants (Internal Audit and IT Audit)

This book facilitates a systematic comprehension of internal workings of corporate governance in practice. Facets of this multidisciplinary, constantly evolving field are discussed and interrelationships among them are explained to provide insights on how certain precepts come into play for various roles in governance. This book pragmatically explains and illustrates with a view to integrate. To keep the scope achievable, the emphasis is placed on the U.S.-based companies; where possible, differences in governance around the world are identified.

Three rich sources of knowledge help shape the message of this book: existing paradigms, personal experience in governance, and research on issues and challenges of governance.

Features:

• Permits a holistic view of the complex corporate governance landscape.
• Discusses and generously illustrates the practice of corporate governance.
• Aids understanding of issues and challenges of corporate governance.
• Identifies ways to advance the value of one’s role in corporate governance.
• Teaches how to avoid crucial mistakes that compromise the value of one’s contribution in the governance process.

If you are a professional accountant, securities lawyer, economist, financial analyst, auditor, executive, entrepreneur, or an investor, you will find the book helpful in understanding the entire landscape of governance fairly quickly. Those already involved in the governance arena may find the book refreshing, and may use it to coach others. This book can serve as a reference book in any offering of a course at any academic level.

Dr. Vasant Raval is emeritus professor of accounting at Creighton University, Omaha, USA, where he served for over 37 years in various leadership roles and in active teaching, scholarship and service. Prior to his joining Creighton University in 1981, he was associate professor at the University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada for six years. His career began as an inspector of income tax with the Government of India, with subsequent job positions in the Tariff Commission of the Government of India and finally, in private industry as a cost and management accountant in a complex textile mill that employed over 5,000 hourly workers in three shifts.

Prior to his joining MBA degree program at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA, in 1971, he had earned Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Mumbai and passed professional examinations leading to certification in management accountancy both from India and the United Kingdom. In 1972, he joined Indiana University’s Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree program an specialized in accountancy, organizational behavior, and management information systems.

Dr. Raval served as a director and chair of the audit committee of the board at two public companies during 2004-2010 period. Combined with his academic pursuits, this led to opportunities for him to grow his insights into governance and contribute to the public domain. The experience combined with study of empirical literature on governance improved his insights and sharpened his ability to separate “wheat from chaff.”

An author/co-author of three books and a monograph, he has published over 50 papers and contributed over 40 columns on two different themes, Information Ethics and, more recently, The (Professional) Practice where he co-authors with a professional leading edge practical insights on various topics. Whereas he taught a broad spectrum of courses over his academic tenure, his most recent offerings can be described as covering three domains: corporate governance, fraudulent financial reporting (and related ethical issues), and accounting information systems, including information security.