Walker Review Research Articles

The Response by the UK Regulators to the Banking Crisis

This report explores the causes of the 2007-2008 UK financial crisis. Specifically, the impact of the UK financial system’s transition from the “originate and distribute model” to the “mortgage-backed securities model”. This report explores the causes of the UK banking crisis, and its relation to the US financial crisis. This report will discuss the consequences of the change in the financial system and the impact on the UK banking. It will also demonstrate the changes that have been made in the UK regulatory system with respect to Brown’s Government FRC and FSA, including the Stewardship Code report and Walker Review and Combined Code. Finally, this report will complete a critical evaluation whether the UK regulator’s changes has been effective the UK as a response to the crisis. This report recommends following the UK corporate governance code to improve the UK economic growth and the banking sector.

Conservatism and ideology

1. Introduction: Conservatism and ideology Matthew Johnson 2. What does it take to be a true conservative? Martin Beckstein Reply Identifying true conservatives: a reply to Beckstein Joseph V. Femia 3. The conservative minimum: historical and transcendent subject Dogancan Ozsel Reply From David Hume to Sarah Palin? The troubled search for common features of political 'conservatism': a reply to Ozsel Stuart McAnulla 4. The unconscious Indianization of 'Western' conservatism - is Indian conservatism a universal model? Bjorn Goldstein Reply Comment on Goldstein and conservatism in India and elsewhere Kieron O'Hara 5. 'The weaker-willed, the craven-hearted': the decline of One Nation Conservatism Peter Dorey and Mark Garnett Reply The demise of the One Nation tradition Richard Hayton 6. Neoliberalism, conservative politics, and 'social recapitalization' Edward Ashbee Reply Neoliberalism, conservative politics and 'social recapitalization': a reply Andrew Gamble 7. The rhetoric of neoliberalism in the politics of crisis Andrew Scott Crines Reply The rhetoric of neoliberalism in the politics of crisis: a reply to Andrew Scott Crines Peter Dorey 8. Government open data and transparency: Oakeshott, civil association and the general will Kieron O'Hara Reply Government open data and transparency: Oakeshott, civil association and the general will: a reply to O'Hara Mark Garnett 9. Book Review Symposium: Reconstructing conservatism? The Conservative Party in Opposition, 1997-2010, By Richard Hayton Review by Mark Garnett Reconstruction or repackaging? A review Murray Stewart Leith Reply: The strange survival of Tory conservatism Richard Hayton 10. Book Review Symposium: The Conservatives since 1945: The Drivers of Party Change, By Tim Bale Review by David M. Walker Review by Jim Buller Reply by Tim Bale

Independence and Independent Company Directors

One of the standard regulatory reactions to troubling events in the corporate world—such as the collapse of one of Australia's largest insurers, HIH, the Enron failure in the US, and the Polly Peck accounting scandal in the UK—has been regulation that mandates formally independent directors, and plenty of them. Yet some of the most recent initiatives paint a more mixed picture than usual. For example, in Australia the most recent changes to the ASX Corporate Governance Principles are focused on diversity. In the UK, the Walker Review suggested that expertise was the answer. This paper argues that there is a growing recognition that a reliance on formal independence, as it has been conceived in corporate governance regulation, is unsatisfactory. This paper deconstructs the concept of independence and uses these different understandings of independence to evaluate how the regulation of independent directors has evolved in recent years.

Developing a More Complete Understanding of the Independence of Corporate Directors

One of the standard regulatory reactions to troubling events in the corporate world -- such as the collapse of one of Australia’s largest insurers, HIH, the Enron failure in the US, and the Polly Peck accounting scandal in the UK -- has been regulation that mandates formally independent directors and plenty of them. Yet some of the most recent initiatives paint a more mixed picture than usual. For example, in Australia the most recent changes to the ASX Corporate Governance Principles are focused on diversity. In the UK, the Walker Review suggested that expertise was the answer. This paper argues that there is a growing recognition that a reliance on formal independence, as it has been conceived in corporate governance regulation, is unsatisfactory. This paper deconstructs the concept of independence and uses these different understandings of independence to evaluate how the regulation of independent directors has evolved in recent years.

Executive remuneration, and the principles of the Financial Stability Forum of 2009

PurposeAs a consequence of the global financial crisis and widespread disquiet over executive bonuses and other remuneration, in April 2009 the Financial Stability Forum enunciated principles for sound compensation as part of an effort to ensure the effective governance of compensation. The core problem this article seeks to address is the measurement of the contribution of corporate executives to the intrinsic value of the firm as part of an initial step in the process of implementing the Financial Stability Forum's principles. Unless the contribution of corporate executives can be measured in a manner that satisfies the requirements of sound research methodology, rigorous epistemology, and statutory requirements, it is doubtful whether these principles can be operationalized. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to show how the contribution of corporate executives can be estimated from audited financial statements. From the core problem and purpose of this article, its title is drawn.Design/methodology/approachRelevant sections of the report of the Financial Stability Forum 2009, the UK Corporate Governance Code of 2010, and the UK Companies Act of 2006, in conjunction with important reviews such as the Turner Review of 2009 and the Walker Review of 2009 were studied. Data inputs from audited financial statements were applied to appropriate well‐established non‐controversial valuation equations that are based on “first‐principles” of corporate finance, and the contribution of corporate executives to the intrinsic value of the firm was estimated in order to illustrate the validity of this approach.FindingsThe paper shows that contribution to the intrinsic value of the firm made by corporate executives can be measured in a non‐controversial and transparent way, and once done, can form the basis for quantifying executive remuneration on the basis of valued‐added. No attempt is made to address the fractional share of value‐added that should be placed in a bonus‐pool.Originality/valueFrom an extensive survey of publicly available literature, there is no evidence to suggest that the measurement of the contribution of corporate executives to the intrinsic value of the firm, as part of an initial step in the process of implementing the principles of the Financial Stability Forum 2009, has yet been published.

Managing migration

Rhys Andrews, George A Boyne, Kenneth J Meier, Laurence J O'Toole Jr and Richard M Walker review their empirical study of the effects of immigration on local public services and conclude that, by sharing good practice and building human and social capital, councils can minimise the costs of immigration and maximise its benefits.

Governing Banks: A British Perspective

This conceptual paper considers the corporate governance of shareholder owned deposit taking banks in light of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Deposit taking banks present a special corporate governance problem because depositors (and taxpayers) are stakeholders. The GFC revealed significant weaknesses in the regulation and corporate governance of banks. The UK government commissioned the Walker Review of the corporate governance of UK banks in February 2009. Its recommendations are discussed in the context of the wider governance (including regulation) of banks. Regulation and corporate governance systems should focus on the establishment of effective internal risk control mechanisms and the good management of banks.

The UK Companies Act of 2006, the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002, and important reviews of 2009

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the fact that the certainty equivalent coefficient net present value criterion, CEC(NPV), in disregarding a fundamental requirement for the calculation of cash flows for purposes of discounted cash flow analysis, invalidates this capital budgeting criterion from the perspective of sound research methodology. The paper also investigates the impact of the UK Companies Act of 2006, the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002, and important reviews such as the Turner Review of 2009, the Walker Review of 2009, and the Review of the Combined Code of 2009 on this operationally invalid capital budgeting criterion, as well as its impact on the process of financial managerial decision making.Design/methodology/approachThe CEC(NPV) as a discounted cash flow capital budgeting criterion was examined from the perspective of the axioms of cash flow estimation as well as from the definition of the cost of capital in order to ascertain the contribution of this criterion to financial management. The relevant sections of the UK Companies Act of 2006, the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002, the Turner Review of 2009, the Walker Review of 2009, and the Review of the Combined Code of 2009 were studied in order to establish whether the CEC(NPV) was able to satisfy the requirements of this legislation and these important reviews.FindingsThe CEC(NPV) is construct invalid and does not measure what it purports to measure: it over‐states financial viability. As a consequence, it does not meet the requirements of sound research methodology and therefore is at odds with the UK Companies Act of 2006, the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002, and falls foul of the Turner Review of 2009, the Walker Review of 2009, the 2009 Review of the Combined Code issued by the Financial Reporting Council. As such it cannot be endorsed by the Financial Services Authority.Originality/valueThe paper usefully shows that the CEC(NPV) denies financial managers application of Fisherian analysis for resolving conflicts in the rankings of mutually exclusive projects, and, the comparison of project cost of capital with their respective internal rates of return. Comparisons of the internal rate of return, not with the risk‐free rate (that is assumed to be a constant and which exhibits minimal variability in comparison with the cost of capital), but with the cost of capital cost of capital, are a sine qua non for managerial decision making, especially capital budgeting.

Banking on reform in 2010: is regulatory change ever enough and will the general election hold the answers for the financial services industry?

Over the past three years the financial service industry within the United Kingdom has undergone a major crisis. No part of the industry has gone untouched and even the regulators and the Government have come under fire for their part in promulgating the financial crisis, along with the financial service providers themselves. What has developed has been a plethora of policy documents issued and this has culminated in four major new legal updates for the financial services industry occurring during just one year. The Banking Act 2009, the Turner Review, the Walker Review, the White Paper on Reforming Financial Services and the Financial Services Bill 2009 have all increased the burden on financial services firms in light of the financial crisis sweeping not only the UK but the globe. This paper provides an oversight of these four important papers and pieces of legislation so as to shed light on what the new requirements for financial services firms are. Given the fast pace of the financial crisis, its respective regulation is also just as quick and as such it has been hard for practitioners and academics alike to keep pace with the evolving saga of the crisis. This paper therefore provides an overview of what happened and how the regulation has responded to the challenges it now faces.

The Walker Review proposes ‘The Toughest Governance Regime in the World’

We are currently in the midst of the most significant global changes in corporate governance arising from the financial crisis that will fundamentally transform governance obligations, relationships and expectations, as we know them. Governments in the United States, United Kingdom, European Commission and elsewhere are enacting legislation and voluntary codes to enhance governance oversight, facilitate shareholder impact, enshrine risk governance and strengthen board and shareholder control over executive compensation. This article focuses on developments in the United Kingdom, specifically the recommendations within the ‘Walker Report’.

Sleep and memory: Definitions, terminology, models, and predictions?

In this target article, Walker seeks to clarify the current state of knowledge regarding sleep and memory. Walker's review represents an impressively heuristic attempt to synthesize the relevant literature. In this commentary, we question the focus on procedural memory and the use of the term “consolidation,” and we consider the extent to which empirically testable predictions can be derived from Walker's model.

Forces driving the agenda

Julie Burgess and Carol Walker review the current situation in the field of coronary heart disease — the most common single cause of premature death.

"Just One Story": Reading and Writing about Teaching: A Response to James C. Walker's Review of "Understanding Teaching"

I thank James Walker for his thoughtful reading of my book Understanding Teaching, although I do not agree with everything he has to say about it. It was reassuring to find that he was engaged by the stories Johanna and I told about her life and work, and to find that he thought that the stories make it perfectly clear why no proposals for change that ignore the world ofJohanna, or any other teacher, are likely to succeed. These are the two goals I hoped to achieve in writing the book. Walker would have preferred me to reach these goals by making different use of my data, or by writing within a different epistemological framework. He would probably have preferred me to write a book on the topic he is interested in, self-determination.

Dada Practice: A Feminist Reading: Reaction to Stephanie Kirkwood Walker's Review of "Getting Smart"

Association (AERA) annual conference where we will present, under Division B auspices, a session entitled Building Feminist Community: Reviewing and Being Reviewed. It is in that spirit that I respond to Stephanie Kirkwood Walker's review of Getting Smart. While I will focus on her review of my book, I will also be responding to other reviewers, some, I might add, much more perturbed by me than Walker. Of great curiosity to me is that my intended primary focus on research methodology gets displaced onto the scene of liberatory pedagogy. explains somewhat the lack of attention in most reviews to the chapter on postmodernism and the human sciences (chap. 6), and a sometimes exclusive focus on the chapter on student resistance to liberatory curriculum (chap. 7) which itself begins, This chapter explores what it means to write science differently. I am of a mind, for example, that one reviewer read only this chapter plus the preface (Marcroft 1991). In my mind, the object of my feminist inquiry happened to be feminist pedagogy, but my great interest, always, was research methodology. When I was asked to do a speaking tour of several Ontario universities the fall of 1991 on the topic of feminist pedagogy, I rewrote the focus as Doing Feminist Research on Feminist Pedagogy to more closely reflect my sense of the project of the book. For whatever an author's intention is worth these days, my own sense of address was to science, particularly Laurie Anderson's sense of Big Science. One of the arguments of my book is that the line between practices of emancipatory research and practices of emancipatory pedagogy is quite fuzzy. And, goddess knows, I celebrate the increasing focus on pedagogy across the academy, a focus to which feminist pedagogy has greatly contributed (Luke and Gore