Corporate governance (CG) failures, exemplified by noncompliance with laws, regulations and best practices, have pecuniary costs. Using agency theory, the study aimed to quantify costs of governance failures in South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Top40 listed companies and establish ultimate cost bearer. This differentiates this study from extant literature and makes both methodological and practice contributions by using Value at Risk procedures. Except for Steinhoff, which lost 85% of its value in six weeks, event study method was used to select the other eleven Top40 listed companies included in the study. Data on identified CG failures, published on the Stock Exchange News Service and announced by Regulatory Authorities between 2008 and 2016, was used. At 99.99% confidence level, up to 73.33% of revenue and 62 cents per R1 of market capitalisation were eroded because of governance failures. Due to ascertained losses, the study concluded that CG failures have pecuniary socio-economic costs incurred by principals and government through social expenditure. Theoretical implications suggest agency theory’s extension as agency costs underestimate potential costs by excluding socio-economic costs. The study recommended the use of behavioural theories for insights into agents’ behaviours leading to governance failures and losses. It also recommended that policymakers should strengthen the role of gatekeeping professions to curb the magnitude of ascertained costs.

Executive remuneration has been less analysed and there is need for scrutiny on executive compensation structures and their implications on corporate governance. The study aimed to ascertain the role of executive compensation in accelerating agency and governance problems for FTSE/JSE Top-40 companies from 2008 - 2016. A Generalised Method of Moments was employed, and the results revealed that executive compensation structures can be accelerants of agency and corporate governance problems as the performance was found to negatively affect directors' remuneration. Also, governance had a negative impact on remuneration. Share option trading results confirm agency conflict as net trades and the number of directors that traded on their share options were found to deteriorate with improvement in remuneration. Therefore, it is recommended that the remuneration of executives must be aligned with performance and corporate governance. Moreover, executive directors must exercise their share options after the vesting period and in years they meet predetermined performance targets. Companies should adopt the proposed executive remuneration model in their policies to ensure that executive remuneration considers the governance of the companies they lead. The study's proposed model can be modified in future studies to incorporate other performance matrices such as the six capitals. Keywords: Remuneration Model, Executive Compensation, Governance, Share Options

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The notion of transformation and governance in universities inspired this study. The study’s aims were to evaluate the extent to which King IV serves the transformation agenda of universities and provide recommendations for future King Code instalments given transformation imperatives in South Africa. Considering specific university contexts, literature provides a suite of governance models. The country’s need to achieve transformation targets brings complexities to the purest forms of governance models. A literature search strategy and simplified meta-synthesis approach were applied to transformation and governance literature. Types of transformation (Colloff et al., 2017) and seven university governance models (Baldridge, 1971; Meyer, 2007; Trakman, 2008) were reviewed. Achieving a mix of positives from various codes was found to be possible, and an enabling transformed governance mechanism was proposed, King IV’s application has transformation limitations making it less suitable as universities’ governance framework designed to attain transformation objectives. The study recommends that future instalments of the King Code need to extensively address aspects of socio-economic transformation in similar magnitudes as the current instalment does principles and practices. Additionally, universities should not be tied to one code’s provisions, universities examine and implement governance systems grounded in African cultures, and future research should be conducted around indigenous governance knowledge and systems which should shape governance models for universities.

Sustainability, climate change, and transition risks are on the global agenda. However, achieving sustainability, climate change mitigation, and technological advancements are punctuated by environmental and social casualties not often articulated in public discourse. This viewpoint seeks to caution that while attempting to deal with environmental and climate risks, we should not be oblivious to the resultant environmental and social implications of sustainable technologies and innovations. Contemporary tech-anchored lifestyles increase demand that supports the mining of rare earth elements (REE) which are used to manufacture sustainable technologies (Satchwell et al., 2022). The viewpoint is theoretically anchored in the rebound effect and Jevons paradox. A qualitative meta-summary was used to support and provide coherent contrarian considerations expressed in this viewpoint. Academics, policymakers, and practitioners must recognise the enormity of the carbon footprint caused by using REE. Sometimes, price tags are people relocations (Sovacool, 2019), and they subsequently forfeit their heritage, land rights, and possibly, cultural identity. This opens opportunities to research moral licensing in sustainability and climate change and transition. A holistic approach to sustainability is suggested. The approach insists that net positive benefits should first accrue to local communities and a share of REE profits invested in specific environmental and social projects in REE mining communities.