Volume 14 (2020): Issue 2 (December 2020)

The purpose of corporate governance is to achieve a responsible and value-oriented control of a company. The corporate governance provisions promote and strengthen the confidence of current and future shareholders, creditors, employees, business partners and the general public in national and international markets. For the resilience of financial markets but also for sustainable economic development it is crucial as a governance practice of companies listed on financial markets to be enshrined in the current corporate governance codes’ provisions. Therefore, the approaches of this research bring to the public's attention the conformity of the corporate governance declarations of companies from oil industry that trade shares on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The results show that, in 2019, the analyzed companies register a high level of compliance with the provisions of the Corporate Governance Code applicable on the Romanian financial market.

Augmented Reality (AR) is a current, sustainable, efficient, and promising tool that will make an essential contribution to the development of the Industry 4.0 revolution. AR technology fully and effectively responds to the current extended digital age, in the last year and in the field of education, of learning at all levels. The applicability of AR technology is varied and complex: retail interior design, health, industry, logistics, etc. This paper show the applicability of AR technology in the learning process, from the perspective of the Industry 4.0 concept, highlighting the sustainable and efficient aspects on the economic performance and not only of the companies. The main conclusion of this research is that the use of modern digital technology (AR and VR) in learning in various fields, including education, must be based on the principles of ROI (Return on Investments) and SROI (Social Return on Investments).

The experience of fraudulent financial reporting scandals that shocked American corporate history in the early 2000’s marked a turning point in the evolution of the financial auditing profession, out of a desire to restore investors’ confidence in the integrity of listed companies’ financial information. The establishment of a public supervision authority for audit firms (PCAOB), the establishment of an audit committee for listed companies or the obligation to report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, among with severe financial sanctions for corporate fraud, are the most representative legislative measures imposed in the US by the Sarbanex-Oxley Act (2002) to achieve this goal. To a large extent, these measures have also been adopted in Community law, most likely under the impetus of similar events, such as the Parmalat case (2003). Here that, at a not appreciable time distance, such a sensitive issue of fraudulent reporting returns to the center of investors’ attention through the case of the German electronic payment processor - Wirecard (2020). The article aims to investigate possible early signals that could have indicated risk factors or circumstances that could have favored fraudulent financial reporting in the case of this issuer. In essence, the research methodology is limited to the application of the Beneish model on the annual financial reports from 2016-2018, in order to assess its validation in relation to the values of the score function (M).

The COVID-19 crisis, undoubtedly, raised a series of questions concerning aspects of national and human security. The crisis impact, per se, tested, in extremis, the medical systems and the political capacity to take swift decisions needed to protect the population. It is a general accepted thesis that the world will face a second wave of effects: economic and systemic. Regarding the last aspect, the current international system is constructed around many principles among them, relevant for our research are, global governance and national sovereignty. The manner in which the two concepts operate was tested during the pandemic. On one hand the international system of global governance failed to ensure a higher level of human security when facing a crisis. On the other hand, states were left to tackle the effects of the pandemic, more or less alone, as the entire international system was paralyzed. In this context state had to turn to classic concepts of national security, egocentric and protectionist, but needed to ensure one of its fundamental functions – providing the security of its citizens.

As others crisis are expected to unfold in a domino like effect, redefining national security will be essential for states and regional organizations. But in this process decisions could collide with assumed international obligations. In this context the article explores this impact of the COVID 19 over the how states define their national security concepts. In this context a special attention will be given, as an example, to the industry sector in the context of the green deal, as European states will be pioneering in implementing new standards in climate protection policies that will affect certain sectors of the economy. Rethinking the national security agenda will certainly face aspects which impose the protection of certain sectors that have a higher negative impact over climate change.

The field of luxury has a series of characteristics that allowed a spectacular growth over time, to acquire stability and remarkable recovery power after adverse economic events, including global ones. Associated with extravagance, prestige or elitism, luxury is a need that manifests itself at the level of individuals due to the emotional side that these products highlight. In this paper we conducted a study on the purchase of luxury products among consumers of the Mureș county, mainly aiming to identify the importance and characteristics of the consumption of luxury clothing and accessories.

COVID-19 is currently a pandemic of such a magnitude that it affects economy, labour market, society and all aspects of life. Many researchers are currently engaged in examining the issues, challenges and impacts caused by COVID-19. It causes changes of such nature and degree in the economy and labour market that have been unprecedented. In fact, as a result of the pandemic, the operation and composition of the economy and the structure of the labour market will change. The present study examines how Romanian respondents see the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market, employment and on the different sectors of the economy.