Auditors in a changing regulatory environment
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how corporate responsibility, at the best of times, is taken for granted, and at the worst of times, becomes a much maligned concept.Design/methodology/approach – Describes how the regulatory landscape is rapidly changing and outlines several conditions that must exist or be achieved to ensure the stability of financial institutions through a better system of regulation and monitoring and rapid intervention, where intervention is called for.Findings – There is a need for greater clarity as to the role of auditors and as to the expectations of regulators.Originality/value – Highlights how, for regulators, auditors and stakeholders, the issue of the role of auditors in a changing regulatory climate is an important subject that deserves special consideration.
The risk of being sued by those damaged by regulatory or enforcement action: over‐regulation of financial services?
Discusses the impact of regulatory and enforcement action on banking and financial services, focusing on Switzerland, which is one of the most developed financial centres. Describes the recent increase in legislation which introduces corporate criminal liability, plus the far‐reaching Money Laundering Ordinance with its stronger due diligence requirements. Points out that in the field of financial services, liberalisation and globalisation have been met with more rather than less regulation. Concludes that, while greater regulation can be viewed as a reasonable price to pay for globalised financial services, the over‐regulation of Swiss financial services needs to be rationalised.
Ceramic microwave antennas for mobile applications
Due to their medium to high permittivity values, ceramic microwave materials are attractive as building blocks for miniaturised antenna solutions. Further advantages are low dielectric losses and an excellent temperature stability of standard ceramic materials. Yet, the permittivity of the ceramic material also has a strong influence on the radiation efficiency and bandwidth of the antenna. This implies that in the design process a suitable compromise has to be found between the degree of miniaturisation on the one hand and the antenna efficiency and bandwidth on the other. We describe two approaches towards efficient miniaturised ceramic microwave antennas: the dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with partial metallisation and the shorting post patch antenna. We focus on design steps taken to ensure both a high degree of miniaturisation and high values of the radiation efficiency, the choice of the ceramic material and the experimental performance of the antennas.