Do corporate governance mechanisms affect cash dividends? An empirical investigation of UK firms

The study examines whether corporate governance mechanisms and the compliance with good governance practice are related to cash dividends. In particular, the study assesses the effect of institutional ownership and board structure on the decision to pay cash dividends. A study on UK firms is interesting because firms are expected to voluntarily structure governance mechanisms based on their own needs. We find that institutional owners positively affect cash dividend payments, suggesting that UK institutions are effective in forcing firms to disgorge cash. There is limited evidence that independent directors affect the cash dividends. The results also show that firm specifics affect the cash dividends, namely, business risk, firm size, and leverage ratio. The results are consistent across several robustness checks.     

The determinants of board size and independence: Evidence from China

China's corporate governance reform offers an interesting context for investigating the determinants of board size and independence. Analysing a large panel dataset from 1999 to 2003, we find that Chinese board size is primarily driven by firm complexity; board independence is mainly driven by regulation. Some governance factors newly introduced in this study also have a significant impact. For example, board independence is negatively associated with the size of supervisory board and state ownership. The findings have important implications and provide new insights into the subject.     

The financial determinants of corporate cash holdings: Evidence from some emerging markets

This paper investigates corporate cash holdings in developing countries. In particular, we look into the effect of capital structure and dividend policy on cash holdings in Brazil, Russia, India, and China and compare our results with a control sample from the US and the UK. Our sample contains 1992 firms across these countries for the period 2002–2008. We employ Instrumental Variables analysis to control for the endogeneity of the financial policies (cash holdings, capital structure, and dividend policy). Our results show some evidence that capital structure and dividend policy affect cash holdings. There are similarities between developed and developing countries on the factors determining corporate cash holdings. The results of our cross-country model provide evidence that capital structure, dividend policy, and firm size are important factors in determining cash holdings. Finally, we show that firms operating in countries with low shareholder protection hold more cash.     

Corporate cash holdings and dividend payments: evidence from simultaneous analysis

This study explores the simultaneous relationship between corporate cash holdings and dividend policy using a large sample of around 400 non‐financial firms for the period from 1991 to 2008. The results show that cash holdings are affected by dividends, leverage, growth, size, risk, profitability, and working capital ratio. Dividend policy is affected by cash, leverage, growth, size, risk, and profit. When controlling for simultaneity, dividend payments do not appear to significantly affect cash holdings, nor do cash holdings affect dividend policy. The empirical analysis suggests that simultaneity is crucial in analyzing corporate cash holdings and dividend policy. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Researcher perceptions and choices of interview media: the case of accounting research

This study offers foundational insights into the ways in which perceptions of different interview media—principally, face‐to‐face, telephone and videoconferencing channels of communication—may influence researcher choices and practices. Informed by the reflections of 23 senior accounting researchers, our evidence identifies a duality of practices in the usage of different interviewing media, influenced primarily through the role played by experience, which informs perceptions upon which practices are based. We discuss this duality of practices in terms of information richness theory and channel expansion theory and offer further insights into the factors that influence and shape researchers’ perceptions of the contextual suitability of particular media available to interview‐based accounting research.     

An Improved Fixed-Rate Mortgage Valuation Methodology with Interacting Prepayment and Default Options

This paper considers in detail a realistic mortgage valuation model (including the potential for early prepayment and the risk of default), based on stochastic house-price and interest-rate models. As well as the development of a highly accurate numerical scheme to tackle the resulting partial differential equations, this paper also exploits singular perturbation theory (a mathematically rigorous procedure, based on the idea of the smallness of the volatilities), whereby mortgage valuation can be accurately approximated by very simple closed-form solutions. Determination of equilibrium contract rates, previously requiring many computational hours is reduced to just a few seconds, rendering this a highly useful portfolio management tool; these approximations compare favorably with the full numerical solutions. The method is of wide applicability in US or other mortgage markets and is demonstrated for UK fixed-rate mortgages, including insurance and coinsurance.