Audit Integrity, Experts in Corporate Risk Detection, Salutes Top 100 Firms for Excellence in Accounting & Governance.In Scandal-Ridden 2006, the Audit Integrity Top 100 Shone in Financial Controls and Market Performance LOS ANGELES Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. -- Honoring the best US corporations in accounting and governance, Audit Integrity today made public the Audit Integrity Top 100 report. As experts in risk analysis on public companies, Audit Integrity provides its subscribers with reports on the best and worst of public corporations, based on its Accounting and Governance Risk (AGR AGR advanced gas-cooled reactor ([R])) rating. This is the first time the firm has made public its view of the best companies in the US. The full report may be downloaded at www.auditintegrity.com. In a year of continuing corporate scandals A corporate scandal is a scandal involving allegations of unethical behavior by people acting within or on behalf of a corporation. A corporate scandal sometimes involves accounting fraud of some sort. , such as back-dated options, executive compensation issues and insider trading, these 100 firms avoided those pitfalls and won Audit Integrity's recognition for transparency in financial reporting and management aligned with the interests of corporate stakeholders Stakeholders All parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. . Companies with high integrity - and therefore fewer litigations, financial restatements, compliance issues and related negative events - have tended to earn higher returns than their peers. The Audit Integrity Top 100 averaged 33.4 percent returns during 2006, compared with overall market returns of less than half that level. "While our primary focus is helping our clients manage risk, we are pleased to see a confirmation of our risk methodology in market returns," said James A. Kaplan, chairman and founder of Audit Integrity. "Investors respond positively to trustworthy, transparent management and negatively to scandals and risky behavior." Audit Integrity's AGR ratings, as a proxy for corporate integrity, are monitored by insurers, auditors, investors and other concerned corporate stakeholders to assess and manage their risk in dealing with public companies. It is the only comprehensive assessment of corporate integrity, combing forensic accounting Forensic accounting, sometimes called investigative accounting, involves the application of accounting concepts and techniques to legal problems. Forensic accountants investigate and document financial Fraud and white-collar crimes techniques and evaluation of behavior and motivation in corporate governance Corporate Governance The relationship between all the stakeholders in a company. This includes the shareholders, directors, and management of a company, as defined by the corporate charter, bylaws, formal policy, and rule of law. . The AGR Profiles, updated with each quarterly reporting, offer specifics on questionable behaviors and their risk implications. "Our subscribers already have access to our ratings of these firms, as well as 8,000 others. But we felt these top-rated firms deserved a public acknowledgment," notes Jack Zwingli, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Audit Integrity. "In addition to helping our subscribers avoid high-risk companies, we also deliver value by pointing out the companies that appear to be doing the right things, and who should be recognized and rewarded for their integrity." The report, including the list of public companies, is available at www.auditintegrity.com. Likewise, visitors to the Audit Integrity Web site may download samples of AGR reports. Qualified applicants may obtain a free trial subscription of Audit Integrity's reports and alerts services. About Audit Integrity Audit Integrity is an independent research and rating service that evaluates the risks associated with the accounting and governance practices of over 8,000 public corporations. Its industry-leading methodology, based on comprehensive data collection and proprietary analytics, produces statistically reliable measurements of the integrity of reported financial results and corporate governance practices. Audit Integrity's flagship Accounting and Governance Risk (AGR) rating system grades companies on a scale of 1 to 100, from Very Aggressive to Conservative. The company has established a direct correlation Noun 1. direct correlation - a correlation in which large values of one variable are associated with large values of the other and small with small; the correlation coefficient is between 0 and +1 positive correlation between its accounting and governance risk assessments and actual stock price performance, as well as the likelihood of such adverse events as class action litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. , financial restatements and SEC enforcement actions. The company was founded in 2002 and serves the financial and investment communities from offices in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and Los Angeles. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion