UGB395 Corporate Governance and Ethics Final Assignment Brief 2025-26 | UOS

Learning outcomes of UGB395:

The assignment covers all module learning outcomes.

1. Critically discuss the key sustainable corporate governance and ethics concepts. 
2. Demonstrate a distinguished understanding of different theoretical perspectiveson corporate   governance   and   understand   their   assumptions  about   key   actors,motives, and control mechanisms. 
3. Explore   international   comparative   perspectives   of   corporate   governance,focusing on the system found in the UK and contrasting this with a range ofdifferent corporate governance systems in countries around the world. 
4. Construct critical thinking about a range of approaches and options for corporateaccountability   and   ethics   requiring   the   organisation   of   thoughts,   analysis,synthesis, and critical appraisal.

UGB395 Assessment guideline:

• Weighting – 100% of the marks for this module
• This is an individual assignment of 3,000 words. (+ 10%) excluding appendices, reference list, and bibliography.
• The short report hand in date is Week 5
• The assignment hand in date is 09/01/2026
• The assignment must be submitted ONLINE through TURNITIN© by the due date. Only assessments submitted through TURNITIN© will be marked. Any other submission including submission to the library in hard copy will be treated as a non-submission.

Students should approach this assignment as an academic essay, weighing the arguments forand against each issue, making comments on the literature and drawing logical conclusions.Academic referencing using the Harvard referencing approach is a key requirement of theassignment to demonstrate wider reading and to underpin the discussions, ensuring they haverelevant depth. Students are encouraged to be inquisitive and innovative in their approach asto what should be included in this report.    

The University policy on cheating collusion and plagiarism will be applied to this piece of work.Academic Misconduct is an offence under university regulations, and this involves:

• Plagiarism – where you use information from another information source (includingyour previously submitted work) and pass it off as your own. This can be throughdirect copying, poor paraphrasing and/or absence of citations. 
• Collusion – where you work too closely, intentionally, or unintentionally, with othersto produce work that is similar in nature. This can be through loaning of materials,drafts or through unauthorised use of a fellow student’s work. 
• Asking another person to write your assignment – where you ask another individualor company to complete your work for you, be that paid or unpaid, and submit it as if itwere your own.
• Unauthorised use of artificial intelligence – where you use artificial intelligence toolsto generate your assignment instead of completing it yourself and/or where you havenot been given permission to use artificial intelligence tools by your module leader.Please complete the following declaration around you use of artificial intelligence toolsin your assignment.

Assessment Brief:

Each   student   selects   his/her   own   company   to   study   (‘Disallowed   Company:   Enron).Approval of the chosen company is on a first-come, first-served basis, as no more than two students will be allowed to study at the same company.

The requirement is that you analyse in depth one company based in any country. It is not arequirement that the company be a UK company. The scope of this analysis is to draw fromthe material discussed within the module.  

Analysis contents: 

• A short section setting out Basic Factual Information  about the company,  such asnature of the  business, size,  segmental breakdown, brief history  and  stock marketlistings.
• Corporate Governance: You have to identify the approach applied on your chosencompany and examine the: 

1.Internal Corporate Governance Mechanisms that are applied in your business: structure,substance, and purpose (e.g., board effectiveness, the role of non-executive directors, andremuneration structures) 
2.External mechanisms, especially the role of institutional investors 
3.Shareholder and Stakeholder perspectives in an ethical context
4.Effectiveness   of   the   corporate   governance   regime   applied   in   business   (ethics   –accountability, transparency and engagement)
(approx. 500 words- 20 Marks) 

• Evaluate   the   corporate   governance   failures   and   weaknesses   that   have   led   to   thecollapse/ or damage of the chosen company and the consequences of weak corporate governance. You should relate the failure/weakness of the company with the role of transparency, audit, internal control and risk management in the business. (approx. 750 words- 25 Marks)
• Critically evaluate how globalization has impacted corporate governance structuresand   practices   on   an   international   scale,   considering   issues   such   as  cross-border investments,  socially   responsible   investments  and  corporate   financialperformance. Your discussion should include information of:

1. Government regulations and corporate governance worldwide – (Consider the regulatoryframeworks and the influence of legal and other factors on the evolution of CG systems 
2. Ethics and CSR in a Global Context (Consider the relationship between corporate ethics,social   responsibility   and   globalization   and   explore   howe   companies   navigate   ethicaldilemmas and engage in sustainability reporting assurance) 
3. Discussion of the Corporate Governance reforms to highlight the necessity of reforms

(approx. 1500 words- 50 Marks)

Short report submission:

Students are required to submit a short report to BAV LMS, giving brief information on their chosen company.  Brief information on the company has chosen:

4. Company name 
5. Country of incorporation 
6. Stock exchange listings 
7. Industry sector(s) 
8. Corporate governance failure reason/s: ethical Standards problems in the corporation

The short report is used to enable ML to approve your company selection. They will not be approved if already another two students have chosen them.

Thus, to choose your company you need to ensure at the earliest possible stage that: 

9. you can obtain the necessary reports (in English) and other information.
10. your chosen company is quoted, and share prices are available.
11. you can obtain sufficient information about competitors.

KEY POINTS

The assignment aims to understand the key areas of Corporate Governance and Ethics using extracts, examples, and approaches to Corporate Governance issues. This will include investigating topics from throughout the course linked to the ethics and accountability issues.Some of the principles, concepts and models will be more relevant to their chosen approach than others and so it is likely that different students will formulate different approaches to theproblems.

Student assignment should aim to provide readers with comprehensive knowledge and critical reviews of these areas covering, for example:  

• Knowledge of a variety of topic related to corporate governance within the conceptof CSR, ethics, and accountability.
• Knowledge of comparing a range of definitions of corporate governance within thepractitioner community and several theoretical frameworks that are applied to thecorporate governance discipline.
• Individual   understandings   of,   comments   on,   arguments   and   contributions   to   thetopic, such as key qualitative characteristics, true and fair view/fair presentation,creative accounting.

Therefore, the assessment encourages students to explore how corporate governance and accountability may be enhanced and how a more ethical business environment may be nurtured. This engages the student in the academic literature that they then need to apply in their assessment. 

THE FRONT COVER OF YOUR ASSIGNMENT MUST SHOW:

1. Your name. 
2. Your student registration number. 
3. Your Programme of Study (e.g., BA (Hons) Business and Financial Management, BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance) 
4. The word count (excluding the reference list, bibliography, and any appendices). 
5. The name of your UGB395 module leader and tutor.  

FORMAT GUIDE:

• All text should be in a clear font such as Arial or Times New Roman. 
• All text should be 12-point except for headings. 
• The text should be in a single column and left-aligned. 
• One and a half spacing between lines, including appendices and bibliography, but excluding quotations, footnotes, or captions, which may be single-spaced. 
• References: Harvard  

UGB395 Undergraduate Assessment Criteria

These should be interpreted according to the level at which you are working