The effects of executive compensation and outside monitoring on firms’ pre-repurchase disclosure behavior and post-repurchase performance

Abstract

We show that corporate governance mechanisms play an important role in controlling managers’ opportunistic behavior. Low executive equity compensation and a high intensity of outside monitoring help to discourage undesirable self-interested disclosure decisions by management before share repurchases. Corporate governance mechanisms also have a significant impact on long-run abnormal stock prices and operating performance. Firms that manipulate pre-repurchase disclosures experience positive long-term abnormal stock returns. However, we do not find that these firms experience positive long-run operating performance. Corporate governance mechanisms significantly attenuate the tendency toward negative pre-repurchase disclosures and their effects on stock prices and operating performance.