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The case “Corporate Governance Failure at Ricoh India: Rebuilding Lost Trust” discusses the series of events post disclosure of falsification of the accounts and violation of accounting principles, leading to a loss of INR 11.23bn for the company, eroding over 75 per cent of its market cap (Financial Express, 2016). The case provides an opportunity for students to understand the key components of corporate governance structure and consequences of poor corporate governance. The case highlights the responsibility of the board of directors, audit committee and external auditors and discusses the changes required in the corporate governance structure necessary to ensure that such incidents do not take place. The case also delves into the classic dilemma of degree of control that needs to be exercised by the parent over its subsidiaries and freedom of independence given to the subsidiary board, which is a constant challenge all multinationals face. Such a dilemma often leads to the challenge of creating appropriate corporate governance structures for numerous subsidiaries.

The case is intended for MBA courses on corporate governance, business ethics and also for the strategic management courses in the context of multinational corporations. The case can be used to develop an understanding of the essential of corporate governance with special focus on the role of the board of directors, audit committee and external auditors. The case highlights the consequences and cost of poor corporate governance. The case can also be used for highlighting governance challenges in the parent subsidiary relationship for multinational corporations. The case can be used for executive training purposes on corporate governance and leadership with special focus on business ethics.

This case presents the challenges faced by the newly appointed Chairman Noboru Akahane of Ricoh India. In July 2016, Ricoh India, the Indian arm of Japanese firm Ricoh, admitted that the company’s accounts had been falsified and accounting principles violated, leading to a loss of INR 11.23 bn for the financial year 2016. The minority shareholders were agitating against the board of directors of Ricoh India and were also holding the parent company responsible for not safeguarding their interest. Over a period of 18 months, Ricoh India had been in the eye of a storm that involved delayed reporting of financials, auditor red flags regarding accounting irregularities, a forensic audit, suspension of top officials and a police complaint lodged by Ricoh India against its own officials. Akahane needed to ensure continuity of Ricoh India’s business and also act quickly and decisively to manage the crisis and ensure that these incidents did not recur in the future.

The case provides an opportunity for students to understand the key components of corporate governance structure and consequences of poor corporate governance. More specifically, the case addresses the following objectives: provide an overview of corporate governance structure; highlight the role of board of directors, audit committee and external auditors; appreciate the rationale behind mandatory auditor rotation; appreciate the consequences of poor corporate structure; explore the interrelationship between sustainability reporting and transparency in financial disclosures of a corporation; understand management and governance of subsidiaries by multinational companies; and understand the response to a crisis situation.

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CSS 11: Strategy.

The case is appropriate for courses in financial accounting and reporting, audit and assurance, forensic accounting, accounting practice and regulations and corporate governance. After studying the case, students should be able to explain the concept of control and power under IFRS; explain the concept of economic; discuss audit committee and external auditor independence issues and ways to strengthen auditor’s independence; assess the usefulness of the new extended audit report; and evaluate the role of gatekeepers such as financial analysts, audit committee, external auditor, institutional investors and regulators in enhancing the quality of financial reporting.

This case focuses on the accounting policy choices of the foreign associates of AirAsia Berhad. AirAsia Berhad is a phenomenal success, from a debt laden company to having been voted as World’s Best Low-Cost Airline in the annual World Airline Survey by Skytrax for eight consecutive years from 2009 to 2016 and the World’s Leading Low-Cost Airline in the annual World Travel Awards for four consecutive years from 2013 to 2016. In June 2015, an analyst report was leaked, and it led to heated discussion and exchanges in the market. The report questioned the non-consolidation of AirAsia Berhad associates. The share market also reacted. Various players in the market came into foray with their statements and opinions on the merit of the accounting policy choice by AirAsia Berhad. Whose views actually reflect the nature of accounting policy choice that is true and fair? Are these gatekeepers attesting to the accounting crux of substance over form?

Senior undergraduates; MBA; EMBA

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CSS: 1: Accounting and Finance

The case study will help to learn about the importance of pre-sanction precautionary measures before lending to self-help groups (SHGs), to learn about the potential lapses and errors while sanctioning SHG finance and to learn about the importance of bank’s guidelines and compliance before sanctioning loans.

This case study details the tenure of Seema in a rural branch of Safe Bank of India located in Haryana which she joined as a manager in the year 2016. She overachieved the target given by the district collector office, and going by the tide, she kept her reliance on the references provided by non-government organization (NGO) without complying the bank’s instructions. She committed errors while sanctioning the loans, which led towards the upsurge of non-performing assets of the branch. Later on, after investigation it was discovered that she did not follow fundamental bank’s instructions. In wake of those lapses and errors, how she could have avoided those lapses and secure the public money? What were the most important documents while granting agriculture finance and what due diligence she should have taken? How did she treat calls from the government departments? Was she right in trusting the suggestions of the NGO?

This case study caters to students of various streams, namely, management, business administration and law, and can be targeted at both undergraduate and postgraduate students. It could be suitable for several types of courses and students. Furthermore, this case study can also be targeted for various training programmes for bank employees and employees of various lending institutions engaged in agriculture finance and credit linkage programmes.

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CSS 1: Accounting and finance.

Undergraduate courses: Auditing, Leadership, Management accounting. Postgraduate courses: Leadership, Management accounting.

Auditing, Leadership, Management accounting

This case documents the journey of a professional accountancy organisation, namely, the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) and document the MIA’s journey on the establishment of digital blueprint for the accounting profession in Malaysia including some major milestone in innovating audit evidence-gathering technique by introducing e-confirm for auditing bank confirmation in Malaysia. This case highlights the significant role played by a lady chief executive officer (CEO) in embarking into the digitalisation of the accountancy profession and practice in Malaysia. While the ultimate objective of digital blueprint is to transform the accounting and auditing practices in Malaysia, the CEO has led by example by embedding digitalisation within MIA’s practices itself.

The learning outcome of this paper are as follows: to develop students’ understanding on the right attitudes, skills and characters that a successful leader should possess in contemporary business environment by focusing on dilemma and stereo-typing faced by women leaders; to develop the students’ understanding on the changes in business environment particularly the rise of digital technology that affecting the ways in which accounting functions in organisations; to encourage students to be aware that technical accounting knowledge is just one of the key success factors in the career of a professional accountant. The case offer insight into accountants’ role in digital environment and the development needed for accounting profession; to demonstrate how auditing process can benefit from the advancement in technology; and to encourage critical discussion on the development of accounting profession in Malaysia. The case aims to develop students’ critical discussion on the roles of MIA as a regulator of accounting profession and to appreciate historical development of accounting profession in Malaysia. The case also aims to encourage students to realise the existence of other professional accounting bodies, accounting practitioners and academic accountants, and together with MIA, they play significant role in shaping the accounting profession in Malaysia.

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The case has a strong implication on the role of effective leaders in ensuring that significant efforts involved in digitalisation journal, a vital need for the accountancy professional to continue to be a relevant profession, is a success.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

Women leadership, Digitalisation, Professional accountancy organisation, Electronic bank confirmation, Malaysia

The learning objectives (or expected learning objectives and outcomes) are to be achieved by linking them with particular concepts, theories and models. These include conducting a situational analysis of the social business, namely, Lilly Apartments’ Welfare Association; explaining the characteristics and mindset of the leadership, particularly the social entrepreneurial leaders; analysing the conflict among the team members; and designing strategic solutions for combating crises and attaining operations’ effectiveness.

Lilly Apartments’ Welfare Association Karachi was registered under the Act of 1860 of the Government of Pakistan. The members established this Association to oversee the affairs of the maintenance of the apartments, including the provision of utilities, particularly water, sanitation, lifts, generators, parking, security and a park with a small play area for children. The front-burner issue of the Association consisted of mis-governance (causing underperformance), including maintenance of buildings within apartments; recovery of funds from the past executive committee (EC) members due to their massive corruption; managing defaulters’ issues (i.e., the members who did not pay their monthly maintenance fees) and deficiency of funds; inefficient and corrupt practices of the majority of the employees, including one manager and two supervisors; and task-related and personal conflicts between the leadership members. The EC of the Association was elected every year and presently it had only four months left. The research design used for this case study involved conducting 12 interviews, four each involving EC members, former EC members and senior residents, which were analysed to learn the challenges and achievements of the Association. Moreover, pertinent records of the Association were reviewed. The canons of research ethics and soundness were applied.

This case study is suitable for the students of social entrepreneurship or strategy or strategy and leadership. The study level is for graduates in management science, including MBA and EMBA students. This case study is suitable for teaching at any point but ideally near the middle or end of the aforementioned courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The North Side Children' Agency (NSCA) was a twenty-three-year-old nonprofit organization founded to serve very low-income working parents who qualified for income-based government child care subsidies. In support of its mission, the NSCA operated year-round, full-day child care programs at seven different sites for children from six weeks through twelve years of age. It employed a standard nonprofit governance model with a volunteer board of directors, each of whom was assigned to one of six committees, which functioned quite independently. After years of success, in 2004 the NSCA faced a serious cash shortage and its first deficit in a decade. Board members were not only surprised by the crisis but also unprepared to deal with the short- and long-term issues it raised. Board members required strong leadership to organize them to identify the causes of the crisis and think strategically about the organization' response.

Anticipate how changes in the external environment and government policy can have an impact on a nonprofit' operations and mission Identify ways to organize governance to maximize effectiveness and minimize blind spots Use strategic thinking to identify causes of a crisis and potentially redefine a nonprofit' mission Identify the lack of control over funding and the overreliance on one funding source as primary pitfalls of nonprofits that deliver services paid for by the government

After studying this case, the students should be able to: explain the importance of employee engagement; illustrate the role of the participatory management style in an organizational context; discuss why managers may use engagement practices to operate effectively in businesses to lead change and innovation; identify the critical success factors, barriers and outcomes of employee involvement in driving high performance; and discuss the dilemma faced by the managers in the emerging economies while driving the momentum of excellence in the long run.

This is a real case about a leading health-care service company located in the Middle East. The health-care organization’s name is changed to NOVA for reasons of confidentiality. The NOVA is an independent, public joint stock company created to meet the curative needs of the public health-care system in Middle East. The company introduced the Employee Suggestion Scheme named Minara in 2011 in a Federal Government decree, introducing innovation as a major pillar of management in 2013 with intent to encourage organizations build innovative solutions and pioneer initiatives and apply it effectively in services, processes and programmes. Making the Minara programme work in line with the national health agenda, Ms. Fatima who headed the Excellence and Innovation Department took the initiative of accelerating the innovative Programme (Minara). The case data were collected based on both primary and secondary sources. Although the case is based on the real data, it has been ammonised. The case describes the transformation of the innovation process at NOVA through the employee engagement programme (Minara) in meeting the disruptive challenges. This case addresses the challenges faced by the Excellence and Innovation manager who used effective employee engagement practices through the Employee Suggestion Programme in a creative way to bring about innovation in the health-care sector. The case outlines the dilemma faced by the Excellence and Innovation manager in bringing about innovation through the Employee involvement programme in the emerging economic scenario. The case will focus on the analysis of the different aspects of the issues pertaining to employee engagement, employee motivation and the framing of empowerment strategies to bring about innovation and continuous improvement through an effective employee suggestion programme. The case is intended to give budding managers an insight into innovation and employee engagement practices that impact performance in the organization.

This case will be suitable to be used in Human Resource Management and Management of Change and Innovation course at undergraduate and Master’s level.

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CSS 1: Accounting and Finance

– It is related to managerial accounting including style of management, evaluation method, risk management, responsibility accounting and reporting.

– It is suitable for both Bachelor's degree and Master's degree students to apply their comprehensive knowledge of managerial accounting on the case with relevance for the courses including managerial accounting, cost accounting, cost analysis and managerial accounting seminars.

– Information given by the case informs about the decentralized management structure and style of a data communication company, Data Communication Company Limited. The delegation of authorization is used as the main control of the company to monitor the performance of each department. The case study describes the company's specific methods as well as the monitoring procedures and the reports. In addition, it also addresses the management's concerns regarding risks as it relates to the current market situation.

– To study managerial accounting courses by using this case, it certainly enhances effectiveness and efficiency of accounting curriculum. This case specifically provides a realistic perspective, comprehensive information and solution capability relevant to real world challenges, which can be applied to managerial accounting.

– Teaching note.

The impact of corporate governance on internal controls and quality of financial disclosures.

Analysis of a real financial fraud event for a non-US multinational corporation. The case relies on accessing and analyzing annual reports for the firm, both before and after the fraud. Additional information on industry governance characteristics are provided in the case itself so that students can compare the firm to the industry.

This business case is centered on the analysis of Schneider Electric, a French multinational corporation, which had to restate their financial statements in 2011 because of accounting fraud. Following this event, Schneider undertook major changes in their board structure to improve internal control mechanisms. This pedagogical business case familiarizes students with international differences in ownership and board structure and emphasizes potential corporate governance changes after financial statement fraud.

Managerial finance, corporate finance, international finance, auditing. This case is more appropriate for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses.

The case describes the policies followed by the Government of India to attract private investments for Oil & Gas exploration. This case is based around observations made by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on some of the petroleum sharing contracts and the remedial measures suggested by a committee appointed by the Government. The case describes how such contracts are structured elsewhere and raises issue about how such contracts can be structured and managed by the state.