Corporate Whistleblowing Regulation

This book adopts a cross-jurisdictional perspective to consider contemporary corporate whistleblowing issues from an ethical theoretical perspective, regulatory perspective, and practical perspective. It includes in particular arguments in favour of and against the adoption of financial incentive schemes for whistleblowers, as well as the potential implications of adopting such schemes. This approach provides a valuable opportunity for comparison from a law reform perspective. 

The book brings together authors from various jurisdictions – Canada, Australia, and the USA – who, through their exposure to this area of law, be it as practitioners, regulators, or academics, offer valuable and interesting insights on the emerging and topical area of corporate whistleblowing generally, and whistleblowing rewards in particular. These three jurisdictions were selected on the basis of their reform-oriented stance on corporate whistleblowing and/or implementation of financial incentives for whistleblowing, creating an opportunity to assess contemporary regulatory structures and in particular how incentives measures could interact with corporate whistleblowing regulatory frameworks, and how they could contribute to improved governance. The reasons for the rejection of the notion of financial incentives in the United Kingdom are also reviewed, in order to provide a comparative overview. 

The book provides useful guidance for those who may be affected by the implementation of corporate whistleblowing schemes, including for reward, whether as regulators, practitioners, company directors, or whistle blowers.

• whistleblowing
• corporate regulation
• corporate culture
• corporate governance
• regulatory theory
• corporate ethics
• business ethics
• corporate social responsibility
• regulatory design
• risk management
• securities regulation
• corporate whistleblowing
• corporate compliance
• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

• Flinders University, Bedford Park, Australia

  Sulette Lombard, Vivienne Brand

• University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada

  Janet Austin

Sulette Lombard is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. Her research focuses on directors’ duties, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility, corporate regulation, director liability in the context of insolvency, insolvency practitioner obligations, regulation of credit rating agencies, and the regulation and regulatory benefits of corporate whistleblowing.

Vivienne Brand is an Associate Professor of Law at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. Her research interests primarily lie in corporate law and business ethics.

Janet Austin is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada. Her research focuses on financial regulation and corporate and white collar crime and its enforcement, especially: securities regulation, the role of regulators (including the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)), insider trading, stock market manipulation, fraud, and foreign bribery and corruption.

Policies and ethics