The Influence of Board Composition on Sustainable Development Disclosure

Despite knowing the potential effect of social reporting on firms' continuity, there is limited research into the influence of the composition of boards of directors on CSR disclosure. This paper adds to the emerging CSR literature empirical evidence by examining how board composition relates to a firm's social and environmental disclosure as well as the implementation of social policies. Using a sample of FTSE 350 firms for the period 2007–2012, the results show that higher board independence facilitates the conveying of firms' good citizenship image through enhancing societal conscience. The results also show that female participation on boards is favorably affecting CSR engagement and reporting as well as the establishment of ethical policies. Hence, the research suggests that boards with higher female participation and independence boost the legitimacy of CSR reporting. Board gender diversity and independence facilitates directing part of the firm's scarce resources toward value maximizing social projects and subsequent reporting on these. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

股权激励下经理人机会主义行为的经济学分析

从理论上探讨股权激励下经理人机会主义的动机与实现途径。在薪酬委员会不独立时,具有信息优势地位的经理人可以通过在实施激励前尽可能地将股权激励授予时的获取成本压低以及实施激励后通过盈余管理的行为将公司的股价抬高等机会主义行为实现其股权基础薪酬最大化。为了保证股权激励的有效性,应从委员构成以及议事程序等方面进一步提高薪酬委员会的独立性。     

浅析我国地方政府审计存在的问题及对策

目前,我国政府审计与整体审计体系的发展并不匹配,存在很多现实问题,下面将从改善政府审计独立性着手,提出增加地方政府审计透明度,提高审计人员的综合素质等措施,解决我国地方政府审计存在的问题。     

毛泽东经济思想略论

毛泽东经济思想指导中国革命根据地的经济建设、新民主主义经济建设和社会主义经济建设取得了巨大的成就。毛泽东经济思想的核心是人民主体经济;毛泽东经济思想的出发点是国家意志经济;毛泽东经济思想的立足点是独立自主、自力更生的原则。     

上市公司高管更换对审计独立性影响的研究

基于我国A股上市公司2002～2009年公司高管更换的面板数据,利用统计分析及Logistic回归方法设计了12个实证模型,研究了上市公司高管更换以及高管更换特征与审计独立性之间的关系。实证结果表明,上市公司董事长更换和CFO更换分别与外部审计独立性呈显著的正相关关系,董事长的常规更换和董事长的上半年更换分别与审计独立性呈显著的负相关关系,而CEO更换和CEO更换特征与审计独立性的相关性不显著。     

物权行为独立性的逻辑分析

《物权法》颁布后,关于物权行为理论的争论并未停止并且仍将持续下去。独立性和无因性是物权行为概念的两个基本原则,物权行为的独立性是物权行为理论中的基础问题。无论《物权法》对于物权行为理论采取什么态度,理论界对物权行为的无因性做什么评价,物权行为的独立性都是客观存在的逻辑必然。     

宪政视野下的司法独立——基于中外宪法文本的比较研究

宪法是国家制度设计的蓝本,是宪政理念最直接的体现,是司法独立的一面镜子,更是实践司法独立思想的首要制度保障。司法独立思想来源于古希腊政治哲学家的宪政思想与分权制衡的理念,它具有三大特征：司法权独立,法院独立和法官独立。就司法权力的独立而言,主要西方国家有两大特征：一是设置了专门行使司法权力的机构;二是明确规定了司法权力的独立行使范围。1949年以前,我国宪法文本对于＂司法制度＂的设计与西方国家存在着很大的相似性,有几个宪法文本就是学习与借鉴英美国家来制定的。1949年建国以后,我国宪法文本中对于＂司法制度＂的设计也与之前的风格迥异。     

Firm characteristics and audit committees complying with ’best practice‘ membership guidelines

This study investigates demand and supply characteristics associated with firms that voluntarily established audit committees meeting ‘best practice’ membership guidelines. We focus on a set of best practice criteria rather than on the separate elements of the best practice criteria as in past studies. We conduct our tests using a sample of New Zealand listed companies that, relative to firms in other capital markets, are smaller and have more concentrated ownership. This setting differs from prior research because we expect the costs of voluntarily achieving best practice to be reasonably high. The results show that demand factors are not significantly related to the presence of an audit committee that conforms with best practice membership guidelines. However, supply factors (i.e. those firms with larger and more independent boards) are more likely to form audit committees that meet best practice. These results suggest that compliance costs will be greater for firms with smaller and less independent boards of directors if they are required to comply with best practice requirements.     

Board structure and CEO compensation: Evidence from U.S. lodging industry

Using a sample of U.S. lodging firms, this paper examines the relationship between board of director characteristics and chief executive officer (CEO) compensation. Previous research shows that larger boards are detrimental to the effectiveness of the board of directors and deteriorate the control imposed on CEO actions and pay. Board independence is also suggested as an important quality to emphasize the control on the CEO. We propose that U.S. lodging firms’ board of directors provide a nice setting to investigate the effects of size and independence on CEO compensation level. Our findings suggest that CEO compensation is not related to board size, and positively related to proportion of the outside board members. These findings are contrary to the findings of previous studies. Our findings may provide significant insights to lodging firms’ board of directors to structure efficient compensation packages.     

Another Graphical Proof of Arrow's Impossibility Theorem

Arrow's (1951) Impossibility Theorem is the idea that, given several well-known assumptions, the social orderings of particular alternatives that are meant to reflect individuals' preferences must match the preferences of an arbitrary individual (the dictator). A social-choice rule other than dictatorship is impossible. Following from Fountain (2000), the author presents another graphical proof of the theorem that is intended to be more accessible to students and teachers of economics. The principal strength of this approach is that the patterns of agreements and conflicts over all possible combinations of two individuals' rankings of alternatives are transparent; appreciating these patterns is the key to intuitively understanding Arrow's theorem. A self-test for readers (or a classroom exercise for students) is included.