Corporate Governance Measures Research Articles

Do fair value measurements affect accounting-based earnings quality? A literature review with a focus on corporate governance as moderator

This structured literature review of 48 archival-based studies investigates the influence of fair value measurements on earnings quality and stresses the moderating impact of corporate governance. We focus on accounting-based earnings quality measures that have several advantages for investigating agency-related earnings management behavior compared to market-based measures (e.g. value relevance studies). Fair value measurements are not restricted to specific industries, periods, circumstances, or items in our sample. Based on the applied earnings quality measure, the reviewed articles are structured into five categories: (1) earnings persistence and predictive ability, (2) discretionary accruals, (3) target beating and properties of analysts’ forecasts, (4) earnings variability, and (5) other earnings quality measures. We indicate three key findings: first, fair value measurements show mixed earnings quality; second, lower-level fair value measurements decrease earnings quality; and third, corporate governance measures enhance earnings quality. After that, we deduce six research questions for future research. We show possible extensions to previous research designs in methodology and settings. Future research should also focus on corporate governance variables to a greater extent, especially compensation and board structures. Thereby, we suggest extending the neoclassical view with behavioral aspects.

The effect of corporate governance and financial leverage on efficiency of Pakistan textile sector

This research observes the effect of corporate governance and financial leverage on the efficiency of listed companies in Pakistan. The variables return on assets and return on equity are chosen as the firm’s efficiency of the textile sector for this research. Measures of corporate governance used are board size, director’s remuneration, and Audit committee members, whereas financial leverage is used as a control variable. The data of corporate governance, financial leverage, and efficiency variable are composed of annual reports of the top ten listed textile companies from Karachi stock exchange. The research consists of the period from 2012 to 2017. Panel data is used to examine four hypotheses and to test the significance of corporate governance and financial leverage on a firm's performance the OLS regression models are applied. The finding of this study revealed that board size, audit committee, director's remuneration is positively correlated with a firm's performance ROA and ROE, and conversely, financial leverage is negatively correlated with a firm's performance. Overall regression result of this study discovered that the audit committee members and financial leverage are statistically insignificant, whereas board size and director’s remuneration are statistically positive significant. This concludes that there is no significant association between corporate governance and firm’s performance as well as financial leverage with the firm's performance. The sample size of this study was small and this research is limited to the textile sector of Pakistan. Future researchers may have included more determinants of corporate governance such as women on board, board meeting, family ownership structure, etc.

Governance Vis-à-Vis Investment Efficiency: Substitutes or Complementary in Their Effects on Disclosure Practice

Prior studies provide evidence that both corporate governance and corporate investment efficiency affect corporate disclosure practice. In this paper, we examine their joint effect on disclosure. In particular, we examine whether corporate governance quality and corporate investment efficiency act as substitutes or complements in their impact on narrative disclosure. We collect disclosure scores from Lancaster University’s Corporate Financial Information Environment (CFIE) website for a sample of non-financial UK companies for the period 2007–2014. We regress measures of corporate governance and corporate investment efficiency on two different proxies of disclosure practice (performance commentaries disclosure and the tone of narrative disclosure). Consistent with prior studies, we find that both governance and investment efficiency affect disclosure. We contribute to narrative disclosure studies in two crucial respects. First, we provide empirical evidence that governance and investment efficiency has a complementary effect on performance commentaries disclosure. Second, we contribute to the disclosure tone literature by providing empirical evidence that both governance and investment efficiency have a substitution effect on the tone of narrative disclosure.

Environmental and Social Concerns of Stakeholders and Corporate Governance in Germany

This study explores the overall effects of corporate governance practices and features of board effectiveness on the environmental and social (ES) concerns of stakeholders in Germany. The research presents ES concerns through ES indices. The study uses the data of listed firms in Germany for the period 2004-2017. The study finds that overall measurement of corporate governance in firms in Germany decreases the ES concerns of stakeholders. However, when various features of corporate boards are used as measures of corporate governance, it finds that if the chairman is an ex-CEO, there are significantly higher ES concerns for stakeholders in Germany.

Quality of corporate governance: Contribution to improving companies performance in Bosnia and Herzegovina

A quality corporate governance system is a basic prerequisite for a sustainable growth economy, more easily increasing the efficiency of the economic system and guaranteeing access to external sources of capital. The level of quality of corporate governance can be defined as the degree of fulfillment of set standards of corporate governance defined at the international and national institutional level. In the new, modern business conditions, with strong dynamic changes in the social and business environment, modern corporate companies, ie their management bodies, are taking on new characteristics, adapting to new requirements and challenges. In this sense, the new demanding business conditions require continuous improvement of corporate governance potential. Based on previous theoretical and empirical knowledge, Bosnia and Herzegovina has the characteristics of a closed corporate governance system in both entities, so, as a basis for developing models for measuring the level of corporate governance, selected models that measure corporate governance in countries with typical closed corporate governance systems. A significant number of studies show that corporations that achieve higher standards and better corporate governance practices also have better business performance results and thus greater value in the capital market. This means that corporations with a higher level of corporate governance also have better financial operating results, easier access to financial capital, and greater value in the capital market. The main purpose of the research is to determine the level of influence of the quality of corporate governance on business performance, ie to determine whether corporations that had good corporate governance had higher business liquidity and vice versa. The main goal of the research is to establish the link and relationship between quality and corporate performance management indicators of the corporation's business.

Ownership structure, dividend policy, and financial performance: A causality analysis

Most studies on corporate governance testing the relationship or correlation between ownership structure (OS), dividend policy (DP), and financial performance (FP). Little attention has, however, been paid to the direction of the causal relationship between financial performance and corporate governance variables (such as OS and DP). This study fills that gap by examining the direction of causality using the bootstrap panel Granger non causality tests to analyze panel data on selected listed firms in an emerging economy, namely, Tunisia. Based on a sample of 154 firm-year observations during the period 1996–2017 and using both Kónya’s (2006) and Dumitrescu and Hurlin’s (2012) approaches, results show the existence of both unidirectional and bidirectional significant causal link between the pair of used variables. These findings agree with earlier studies that found that causality runs from some corporate governance measures to financial performance, from the latter to the former, or in both senses

Corporate Governance Independence in the Board of Directors and The Firms Financial Performance: Empirical Analysis of Cement Sector Firms Listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)

The corporate governance measures emphasize on presence of independence of the board of directors to bring objectivity and reducing the agency cost; whereas the institutions have the ability, skills and time to supervise the activities of the management and channelize it to better financial performance. The objective of this study is to explore the effect of independence of the board of directors on the financial performance of the firms. The independence was gauged by number of independent directors and non-executive directors, chairing of board committees by independent directors, institutional holding in the firm, and presence of institutional directors on the board. The financial performance of the firm is gauged using the return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA). The corporate governance and financial performance data comprising of 75 firm years from 2014 to 2018 of the firms listed in the cement sector of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) were selected. GLM regression was performed to study the relationship between the variables. The results suggest that the majority of independence on the board of directors do not affect the financial performance of the firm; the independence in the board committees negatively affects the financial performance, whereas the presence of institutional holding and director in the firm does not have any effect on the performance of the firm. The study will provide a basis for future studies to find the association that independence can bring objectivity, reduce agency cost, and affect the performance of the firm.

Corporate board for innovative managerial control: implications of corporate governance deviance perspective

Purpose Drawing from the firm’s entrepreneurial identity and ecology perspectives, this study aims to explain why the firms deviate from standard corporate governance practices and apply innovative management control. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a panel of 2,538 public companies listed with the New York Stock Exchange to explain the impact of corporate governance deviance on firm’s performance. The authors relied on unique governance variables extracted from the Bloomberg database to develop the governance deviance index. Findings Study unveils that deviance from governance practices influences firm’s performance. Consequently, it can be said that the firms which use innovative governance mechanisms, usually stay ahead of the market by leading the governance trends. The findings also generalise the firm’s entrepreneurial identity and organisational ecology perspectives. Research limitations/implications Research implies that the firm’s entrepreneurial identity demands innovative managerial control. This study is focused on the US financial market, but in future, researchers could revalidate the deviance index. Scholars can also use mixed methods to test the need for innovative governance mechanisms in emerging markets. Practical implications The firms should focus on innovative governance practices not only to safeguard the firm’s entrepreneurial identity but also to pursue the growth objectives. Such innovative mechanisms and managerial controls are helpful to deal with industrial transformations to satisfy key stakeholders. Originality/value The study contributed to governance and management control research by sharing insights and catering the potential endogeneity problem faced to measure corporate governance measures. The study also proposes an alternative testing tool to measure governance deviance to add methodological uniqueness and reduce knowledge gap.

Corporate governance and financial performance: evidence from Romania

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact of adopting the principles of corporate governance on the financial performance of companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE). To assess the implementation of corporate governance principles, the authors built an index based on the principles specified in the BSE Corporate Governance Code (CGC).Design/methodology/approachAn econometric analysis was conducted to estimate the impact that the authors’ corporate governance indicator had on financial performance, measured successively through Tobin's Q, return on equity (ROE), economic value added (EVA) and total shareholder return (TSR).FindingsFollowing the regression model, the authors noticed the absence of a significant impact of corporate governance practices on performance measured by ROE, EVA and TSR but instead, a significant and positive relationship for Tobin's Q rate was found.Research limitations/implicationsDue to the lack of data before the implementation of the BSE Code of Corporate Governance, the research period is limited to 2010–2015, but the authors’ future studies will try to extend the research period.Originality/valueAlthough numerous studies have been conducted to analyze the empirical relationship between corporate governance and financial performance, no conclusive results have been obtained. The diversity of these findings can refer to methods used in the construction of a corporate governance measure as well as to the accuracy of financial reporting.

VALUE-BASED INTERMEDIATION AND REALISATION OF MAQASID AL-SHARIAH: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FOR ISLAMIC BANKS IN MALAYSIA

The expectation of stakeholders towards Islamic banks has changed and goes beyond avoiding riba and compliance with Shariah but to become value-based intermediaries and fulfil the objective of Shariah Many studies argue that the goals of Islamic banking should not be restricted to maximizing shareholder wealth but should also entail raising the standard of living and welfare of the community. This paper aims to discuss the issues, trends, and challenges for Islamic banking in Malaysia towards satisfying various stakeholders’ needs through the implementation of value-based intermediation (VBI). VBI has been firstly introduced by Bank Negara Malaysia in 2017. In VBI, maqasid al-shariah is established as the fundamental framework in deciding the underlying values, moral compass, and goals in Islamic finance. Thus, realisation of maqasid al-shariah has created its own challenges in VBI implementation. Some earlier studies have discussed issues related to the principles and approaches related to VBI but neglecting other important mechanisms to drive its successful implementation. This review paper highlighted that corporate governance and performance measures are essential elements in VBI implementation. Future studies are encouraged to further explore the possible indicators that can fairly assess the efforts of Islamic banks in satisfying stakeholder needs in line with maqasid al-shariah. Further studies in corporate governance also deemed important to establish the relationship between the key corporate governance players and stakeholder management in Islamic banks.

Stakeholder Governance Paradigm in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has tremendous implications for people and organizations. It has influenced organization behavior and may trigger a paradigm shift regarding the way business organizations consider governance under the new normal. This study conducts a synthesis of the literature and provides an insight into the COVID-19 crisis and its impacts on organization behavior and corporate governance norms and measures. Stakeholder governance of protecting interests of all stakeholders presented in this paper is appropriate in addressing challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic that affect organization behavior. These challenges and related changes will affect all aspects of business organizations from the oversight function by the board of directors to the managerial function by executives. Stakeholder governance is driven from the stakeholder primacy concept with focus on creating and protecting shared value for all stakeholders. Stewardship theory can predict changes that business organizations will make in modifying their stakeholder governance in the face of such an exogenous shock caused by the pandemic. Propositions are advanced and suggestions are provided for policy, practical, education, and research implications.

Relationship between online corporate governance and transparency disclosures and board composition: evidence from JSE listed companies

ABSTRACT In the aftermath of corporate collapses and scandals, transparent communication with stakeholders is vital in rebuilding trust. Notwithstanding sound theoretical arguments advocating the importance of board diversity, e.g. improved corporate governance, empirical results remained mixed. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of board composition on companies’ use of their websites as voluntary communication channel for corporate governance and transparency disclosures. A quantitative methodology was used to measure corporate governance and transparency disclosures available on corporate websites for a sample of JSE-listed companies. By means of multiple regression analysis, findings showed that companies with more board members, a higher percentage of female directors and directors over the age of 50 years excel in the disclosure of corporate governance and transparency-related information. Pertaining to strategic information, companies with more independent non-executive directors disclosed more strategic information and companies with more ethnic directors scored higher on attempts to level the accessibility of information to all stakeholders. Overall, the findings, therefore, suggest that as board diversity may improve both corporate governance and transparency; stakeholders may also benefit from well-diversified boards. Finally, support is provided for the Employment equity and Broad-based employment equity Acts, as well as the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill implemented in South Africa to encourage more gender and ethnic diversity.

How to evaluate the quality of remuneration policy? Evidence from the Polish banking sector

AbstractIn our paper we use an institutional perspective to define the concept of the quality of remuneration policy. Traditional perspective focuses on pay-per-performance relationship between top executives' remuneration and companies' performance. This study is based on the assumption that the acquisition of normatively defined compensation practices and structures is more important for the successful organization than the practices which enhance efficiency defined on the basis of input (compensation) – output (company's performance) relationship. We examine the relationship between the quality of executive remuneration policy and corporate governance standards in banks with a controlling blockholder. Based on the sample of a hand-collected data on corporate governance characteristics, executive remuneration, and financial results of all public banks in Poland from 2005 to 2015, we find that the effective implementation of sound corporate governance practices should be rooted in the form of obligatory normative acts. Consistent with other studies we find a positive and statistically significant relationship between the corporate governance measures and the quality of remuneration policy. In particular, our study shows the significant role of two institutional factors positively determining the efficiency of incentive contracts: remuneration committees and institutional ownership. We also find that the banks controlled by foreign corporations, especially the US–UK–Ireland financial institutions, have a significantly more effective compensation policy than the banks controlled by domestic investors.

Corporate Governance and the Earnings Quality of Nigerian Firms

The focus of the study is to examine the impact of corporate governance on earnings quality in listed firms in Nigeria. The specific objective is to investigate the effect of board size, board independence and board gender diversity on earnings quality. This study was carried out with secondary data retrieved from corporate annual reports of the sampled companies and the data was analysed using panel regression on a sample of 37 quoted manufacturing companies for the period 2011-2017. On the overall, the result reveals that Board size, board independence and board gender diversity used for measuring corporate governance show significant impact on earnings quality. In addition, corporate governance variables appear to be quite sensitive to the measure of earnings quality used. Based on the findings, the study recommends the need for comprehensive evaluation of corporate governance systems of companies. The study recommends the need for more level of board independence. The diversity issue though is gaining momentum in corporate governance literature can still be regarded as not as dominant as compared to others especially as it relates to protecting shareholder rights and framing dividend policy. The significance of the variable nevertheless suggests that companies should thrive to achieve an appropriate diversity mix.

Brand Equity, Earnings Management, and Financial Reporting Irregularities

Abstract Owning valuable brands enhances the financial well-being of firms not only through increased revenues and profitability but also by mitigating agency problems, earnings management, and financial reporting irregularities. Firms with high brand equity are less likely to have income-inflating discretionary accruals, announce earnings restatements, or experience SEC investigations. Brand equity reduces the likelihood of manipulation through incentive and opportunity channels, which we capture in CEO characteristics and compensation, and corporate governance measures. Brand equity reduces the likelihood of financial reporting irregularities more for durable goods firms and firms with shorter-tenured CEOs, as the latter are most vulnerable to performance pressures. (JEL G31, G34, M31, M37, M41, M42) Received September 28, 2019; editorial decision May 27, 2020 by Editor Isil Erel.

Independence of corporate governance and its relation to financial performance

Most studies in the area of corporate governance measure certain characteristics and the effects on financial performance; however, other authors only focus on profitability and do not analyze financial performance in all its dimensions; this is relevant because in some situations the government corporate governance can influence performance measured by liquidity, solvency or activity. The aim of the study is to relate the independence of corporate governance and the financial performance of non-listed companies using econometric techniques. This process was carried out by collecting primary information for the independent variable and secondary data for the dependent variable; the independence of corporate governance was measured by applying a confirmatory factor analysis to data collected through a survey, while the financial performance was measured through average Z factors created for liquidity, solvency, profitability and activity indicators. As a result, it was found that the independence of corporate governance influenced financial performance, but this relationship was statistically significant only with solvency and activity variables. As a result, it can be seen that there is a direct relationship between corporate governance independence and financial performance, in such a way that if the perception of board independence increases, financial performance can increase positively. Acknowledgments An acknowledgment to department SINDE from University Catholique Santiago of Guayaquil, who helped with the necessary resources to conduct this research.

Does CSR reporting indicate strong corporate governance?

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the relationship between companies filing versus those not filing corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and corporate governance.Design/methodology/approachThe websites of US publicly traded companies were examined for commitment to CSR or sustainability reporting based on the preparation of voluntary reports. This information provided the CSR measure, the key independent variable in this study. The data used to compute discretionary accruals (based on the modified Jones model) were obtained from Compustat. Data on auditor tenure were retrieved from Audit Analytics. The number of members and financial experts on an audit committee were gathered from proxy reports filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.FindingsCompanies filing CSR reports have higher audit quality, higher audit committee quality, increased auditor tenure and lower auditor dismissal compared to those not filing CSR reports. The findings support stakeholder theory.Research limitations/implicationsThis study’s utilization of multiple measures of corporate governance provides insight into the robustness of the relationship between CSR reporting and corporate governance. Further, this research uses a different measure of CSR reporting; that is, companies that voluntarily prepared separate CSR reports following or not following the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines compared to reports prepared following the GRI guidelines. This approach increases the size and diversity (i.e. industries) of the sample (Kolk, 2003; Waddock and Graves, 1997).Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that companies engage in CSR reporting to indicate strong corporate governance.Originality/valueThis study uses multiple measures of corporate governance to demonstrate the positive relationship between CSR behavior (measured via filing of CSR reports) and corporate governance.

Trust of the Crowd and Audit Pricing

Using a novel dataset that captures public perceptions of the trustworthiness of client firms by extracting and converting social media feeds into an index, we find that auditors charge higher fees for client firms with lower trustworthiness, as client firms with higher trustworthiness are less likely to incur lawsuits. This correlation is stronger for the shorter audit tenures, younger client firms, and more complex auditing practices after the enactment of the SOX Act. Our results are robust to: (i) including firm or county fixed effects, (ii) controlling for the internal control weaknesses and various corporate governance measures, and (iii) adding the trust index constructed from financial news. Our study highlights the role of the perceived trustworthiness of client firms in audit pricing decisions.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: THE GATEWAY TO A ROBUST CORPORATE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN MALAYSIA

In recent years, with corporate scandals and the global financial crisis, the emerging concept of corporate governance has received increasing attention in the corporate world in these days. It is seen as a moral obligation and includes supporting the consistency of the law and showing ethical guidance. Corporate governance is seen as an important tool for the financial performance of companies, and investor investment decisions have become a more serious topic, so the relationship between corporate governance tools and measurement of financial performance has attracted researchers' interest in the past decade mainly in developed and developing cities. In this study, we attempted to examine the impact of corporate governance on corporate financial performance in Kuala Lumpur using a sample of 215 companies on KLSE. Like previous research, firm, age, firm size, board size, CEO duality, board composition, board committees is the independent variables and their influence is to measure the financial ROA, ROE and Tobin's q , all kinds of test is used to investigate the relationship such as descriptive analysis, Pearson moment related test and regression using first data over a period of time.

Bank survival in Central and Eastern Europe

We analyze factors linked to bank survival on large dataset covering 17 CEE markets during the period of 2007–2015 by estimating the Cox proportional hazards model. We group banks across countries and according to their financial soundness. The overall financial development improves survival probabilities and its impact exhibits decreasing marginal returns as it is strongest in countries with lower level of financial development and banking reforms and in banks with low level of solvency. Measures of ownership structure, legal form, and corporate governance are the key economically significant factors that exhibit strongest economic effect on bank survival. Financial performance indicators predict bank survival rate with intuitively expected positive impact but their effect, in terms of economic significance, is smaller in comparison to other factors as well as the impact found in developed markets. Effect of above factors is most pronounced for banks with low financial soundness in term of their solvency. Results also appear to indicate that it makes exit more likely during the global financial crisis, shortly afterwards, and during the initial stage of the European sovereign debt crisis. This result is critical for central banks due to their regulatory and governance mandate. The results are robust with respect to size, age, and alternative assumptions on survival distribution.