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HLS Faculty & Senior Fellows
Program on Corporate Governance Advisory Board
- Peter Atkins
- David Bell
- Kerry E. Berchem
- Richard Brand
- Daniel Burch
- Paul Choi
- Jesse Cohn
- Arthur B. Crozier
- Renata J. Ferrari
- Andrew Freedman
- Ray Garcia
- Joseph Hall
- Jason M. Halper William P. Mills
- David Millstone
- Theodore Mirvis
- Philip Richter
- Elina Tetelbaum
- Sebastian Tiller
- Marc Trevino
- Steven J. Williams
Author Archives: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation
Five Facts About Beliefs and Portfolios
Why do investors allocate their portfolios as they do? What causes them to change their minds and trade in their portfolios? These are critical questions in the field of macro finance. And central to answering them is understanding the role of expectations: what investors believe about future market returns and risks, how their beliefs vary […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Empirical Research, Institutional Investors
Tagged Decision-making, Index funds, Institutional Investors, Investor horizons, Long-Term value, Macroeconomics, Market reaction, Short-termism, Surveys
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Moving Cautiously on ESG Incentives in Compensation
Since the Business Roundtable’s 2019 call for greater attention to all stakeholders, corporate boards have been elevating environmental, social, and governance issues in their discussions. Last summer’s widespread protests over racial injustice put extra attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) issues. Boards have begun the difficult work of determining which ESG goals are especially […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, ESG, Executive Compensation, Practitioner Publications
Tagged Accounting, Diversity, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Executive Compensation, Human capital, Incentives, Pay for performance, Performance measures, Sustainability
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Statement by Commissioner Peirce on the Staff ESG Risk Alert
On Friday, the SEC’s Division of Examinations published a risk alert, describing the areas on which the staff is focusing in examinations of registered investment advisers’ and funds’ ESG offerings. This alert comes as many financial firms are finding gold in the green—they are offering ESG products because it is lucrative to do so. Therefore, […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, ESG, Regulators Materials, Securities Regulation
Tagged Disclosure, Environmental disclosure, ESG, Risk, Risk disclosure, SEC, Securities regulation
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Illiberal Governance and the Rise of China’s Public Firms
Against the backdrop of current U.S.-China relations and the various pressures in favor of an “economic decoupling” from China, policymakers in the United States are trying to comprehend the various implications of China’s rising power while considering appropriate foreign policy and regulatory responses. As part of this process, the U.S. government is rethinking its approach […]
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Posted in Academic Research, Comparative Corporate Governance & Regulation, International Corporate Governance & Regulation
Tagged Alibaba, China, Foreign firms, Globalization, Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, International governance, Legal systems, Public firms
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SEC Focuses on Potential Updates to U.S. Climate Change Disclosure Requirements
Introduction Companies subject to U.S. reporting requirements may be required to provide additional information about relevant risks, uncertainties, impacts and opportunities related to climate change, as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in the first two months of President Joseph Biden’s administration, has begun analyzing whether current disclosures by such companies adequately inform investors […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation
Tagged Climate change, Disclosure, Environmental disclosure, ESG, SEC, SEC rulemaking, Securities regulation, Sustainability
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How Audit Committees Can Prepare for 2021 Q1 Reporting
As companies navigate ongoing global volatility, an uneven economic recovery and changes in the US administration, audit committees continue to focus on reviewing scenario plans, stress tests and enterprise risk management (ERM) information while overseeing high-quality financial reporting. They are working to keep pace with the uncertain and fluid business landscape and continually re-evaluating key […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, ESG, Securities Litigation & Enforcement, Securities Regulation
Tagged Accounting, Audit committee, Audits, Disclosure, ESG, External auditors, Internal auditors, Risk management, Sustainability
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Will Loyalty Shares Do Much for Corporate Short-Termism?
Stock-market short-termism—stemming from rapid trading and activists looking for quick cash—is, a widespread view has it, hurting the American economy. Because stock markets will not support corporate long-term planning, the thinking goes, companies fail to invest enough, do not do enough research and development, and buy back so much of their stock that their coffers […]
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Posted in Academic Research, HLS Research, Institutional Investors, Securities Regulation
Tagged Capital formation, Capital structure, Institutional Investors, Investor horizons, Long-Term value, Shareholder activism, Short-termism
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A Living Wage: The Latest ESG Challenge For Corporate Governance
Proposals and pressures associated with payment of a “living wage” to employees may present themselves on the boardroom agenda much sooner than corporate leaders expect. Long considered controversial from economic and shareholder perspectives, living wage concepts are receiving more attention in the context of economic policy, social responsibility and ESG investing. As progressive perspectives concerning […]
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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, Corporate Social Responsibility, ESG, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation
Tagged Compensation ratios, Corporate Social Responsibility, ESG, Human capital, Labor markets, Securities regulation, Stakeholders
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Executive Pay and ESG Performance
Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) considerations now sit at the heart of good business practice, and for some companies have become a central strategic pillar. Society needs companies to play their role in addressing challenges ranging from social mobility to climate change. This would suggest that executives should be paid based on ESG performance. But […]
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Posted in ESG, Executive Compensation, Practitioner Publications
Tagged Corporate Social Responsibility, ESG, Executive Compensation, Incentives, Long-Term value, Pay for performance, Performance measures, Stakeholders
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