Purpose – Class action (CA) has long been used in practice (mainly in the USA) and studied by academics especially in the shareholder protection area. This paper aims to apply the same practice within the current financial meltdown context. Design/methodology/approach – The paper faces the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002 on small corporations when compared to large firms and to investigate differences perceived by small and large firms with respect to costs and internal controls. Design/methodology/approach –...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) on a number of governance and governance-related characteristics, such as board structure and committee composition, as well as the effect of those changes (if any) on both accounting...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect that a regime of mandatory audit firm rotation would have on audit quality. Design/methodology/approach – Using two measures of audit quality, being the propensity to issue a going-concern report and the level of discretionary...

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to discuss the role that law plays for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in substance, action and reporting, including whether CSR functions as informal law. Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical point of departure is based in legal...

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to present an initial evaluation of recent Irish legislation in the area of corporate governance. Design/methodology/approach – The background to the introduction of the 2001 Company Law Enforcement Act, establishing the Office of the Director of...

Purpose – The Sarbanes‐Oxley Act has celebrated its fifth anniversary. This paper aims to discuss the effectiveness and usefulness to the accounting profession and the investing community of the reforms set forth in the Act. Design/methodology/approach – Various components of the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine in detail the positive and negative aspects of selected soft law initiatives and the relevance of hard laws in the pursuit of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Design/methodology/approach – Soft law initiatives are categorized into...

Purpose – This paper seeks to answer the practical question whether the institutionalisation level of same‐sex relationships can affect the social acceptance of lesbian women and gay men in Europe, and highlight some of the factors that can potentially determine the incidence of homophobia...

Purpose – Borrowing from the literature on social cognition and schema theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine sexual orientation and sex discrimination, to critique and refine that doctrine, particularly when traditional gender roles are enforced in workplaces. The insights of...