Length of Board Tenure and Outside Director Independence

I posit and test two competing views on the significance of outside director tenure lengths; the expertise hypothesis suggesting that extended board service time is a sign of director commitment, experience, and competence and the management‐friendliness hypothesis suggesting that extended board service time marks directors who befriend management at the expense of shareholders. I find evidence that Senior directors, defined as directors with twenty or more years of board service, are almost twice as likely to occupy a 'management‐affiliated' profession compared to the rest, and that they are also more likely to staff the firm's nominating and compensation committees. Senior director participation in the compensation committee is associated with higher pay for the CEO, especially when the CEO is more powerful in the firm. These results are consistent with the management‐friendliness hypothesis, and highlight a need for setting term limits for directors.     

建立独立董事制度 完善公司治理结构

为了规范上市公司的法人治理结构，使董事会更公正地代表股东利益尤其是中小股东的利益，借鉴国际市场经验，笔者认为，在上市公司中引入独立董事制度是完善中国上市公司治理结构的重要步骤。     

董事会委员会有效性与治理溢价——基于中国上市公司的经验研究

本文从投资者角度出发,以是否存在治理溢价作为衡量标准,对董事会专业委员会的有效性进行了分析。通过对沪深两市2002～2005年间面板数据的分析发现,在董事会中设立提名委员会、战略委员会和审计委员会,能够为投资者带来显著的治理溢价,这与麦肯锡公司在2000年和2002年两次对投资者所作调查得出的结论相一致。这些研究结论为我国公司治理改革提供了重要启示,即在资源和时间有限的情况下,应优先解决那些关键治理环节和要素;与此同时,对于尚未发挥应有效力的分委员会,应该分析并克服限制其作用发挥的消极因素,在既有的资源及禀赋约束下,充分发挥董事会专业委员会的积极治理作用。     

Corporate Governance, Board Diversity, and Firm Value

This study examines the relationship between board diversity and firm value for Fortune 1000 firms. Board diversity is defined as the percentage of women, African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics on the board of directors. This research is important because it presents the first empirical evidence examining whether board diversity is associated with improved financial value. After controlling for size, industry, and other corporate governance measures, we find significant positive relationships between the fraction of women or minorities on the board and firm value. We also find that the proportion of women and minorities on boards increases with firm size and board size, but decreases as the number of insiders increases.     

Corporate Governance,Managers' Independence,Exporting, and Performance of Firms in Transition Economies

Using data on 157 large companies in Poland and Hungary, this paper employs Bayesian structural equation modeling to examine the relations among corporate governance, managers' independence from owners in terms of strategic decision making, exporting, and performance. Managers' independence is positively associated with firms' financial performance and exporting. In turn, the extent of managers' independence is negatively associated with ownership concentration, but positively associated with the percentage of foreign directors on the firm's board. We interpret these results as indicating that concentrated owners tend to constrain managerial autonomy at the cost of the firm's internationalization and performance, but board participation of foreign stakeholders enhances the firm's export orientation and performance by encouraging executives' decision-making autonomy.     

Board Independence,Ownership Structure and Performance: Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trusts

For Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), mandatory distribution of income limits free cash flow. But, restrictions on source of income and asset structure result in widely dispersed stock ownership, which makes external monitoring through the takeover market less likely. As such, alternative monitoring mechanisms, including external directors, must be in place to discourage deviant managerial behavior. Using a simultaneous equation system, we conclude that while independent directors enhance REIT performance, the effect is weak. Higher CEO stock ownership and control through tenure and chairmanship of the board reduce the representation by outside directors, and adversely affect REIT performance. Institutional ownership or blockownership fails to serve as alternate disciplining mechanism to (inadequate) monitoring by outside board members, although their presence seems to enhance performance.     

公司治理结构对总经理长期激励的影响分析

本文研究了上市公司董事会特征和股权结构对总经理长期激励程度的影响.发现,董事会规模与总经理长期激励程度无显著相关关系;独立董事比例、内部董事比例、总经理与董事长年龄都与总经理的长期激励程度显著正相关;国有股比例对总经理的长期激励的影响呈现倒U型关系.     

我国上市公司主动设立独立董事的动机分析

在我国独立董事制度的强制性制度变迁过程中,部分上市公司出现了主动设立独立董事的"自愿行为"。针对引发自愿行为的动机进行理论分析,并以沪深两市主动设立与非主动设立各50家上市公司为样本进行实证检验,结果表明我国上市公司中存在主动设立独立董事的"监督的动机"和"顾问的动机"。该研究为我国上市公司从强制合规到步入主动守规的自主治理阶段以及如何改革独立董事制度等方面提供了经验支持。     

论自然垄断企业的会计责任及财务报告的改进——以电力企业为例

本文分析了自然垄断企业会计责任的演变 ,并以电力上市公司为例 ,研究了我国自然垄断企业财务报告的现状和不足 ,最后提出了改进我国自然垄断企业财务报告的构想。     

The Nature of Board Nominating Committees and Their Role in Corporate Governance

This study examines the association between the employment and composition of nominating committees with board and ownership characteristics. First, the results suggest that the likelihood of using a nominating committee is inversely related to the level of inside ownership and positively weakly, related to the independence, but not the number, of outside board members. Second, the percentage of insiders participating in the committee is positively related to inside ownership, and negatively related to proxies for outside director quality. Finally, outside directors are more likely to serve on the nominating committee the more outside directorships they hold, and the longer their tenure in the firm. The likelihood of insider committee membership rises with a director's equity investment, with board tenure, and with other committee memberships. Taken together, the results are consistent with nominating committees substituting inside ownership in controlling management, mostly improving board quality, and being staffed with independent, experienced, and knowledgable members.     

An Analysis of Changes in Board Structure during Corporate Governance Reforms

This study examines the evolution of company board structure during a period of corporate governance reform. Using data over a time period following the publication of the Cadbury Report (1992) we present evidence of an increase in the independence of UK boards, as measured by an increased willingness to employ independent non‐executive directors, and to separate the positions of the CEO and the Chairman of the Board. In examining the determinants of these changes, we find that boards change more readily in response to changes in managerial control, equity issuance and corporate performance than changes in the firm‐specific operating environment of companies.     

Corporate Governance: Lessons From Barings

The collapse of Barings plc at the end of February 1995 brought two official inquiries which reported very promptly. The British report was made public on 18 July, just over four months after the failure. The Singaporean investigation into the workings of the Barings subsidiary was completed at the beginning of September. Revelations about the events and courses of problems are colourful as well as damning. There are issues in corporate governance arising from this experience. However, an analysis of the workings of Barings plc is essential if substantial understanding of what took place and why is to be secured. The British report did not attempt such an analysis. This oversight hampered analyses of the handicaps to effective funds and risk management as well as failure to develop informative and accurate accounts for auditing, credit control and funding purposes. The governance implications are treated exhaustively.     

Corporate Performance,Corporate Governance and Top Executive Turnover in Finland

This paper empirically investigates how corporate governance forces and firm performance affect top executive turnover in Finnish listed companies. I document an increase in CEO, top management, and board turnover in response to poor stock price performance and operating losses. The sensitivity of the relation between stock price performance and CEO turnover is significantly higher in firms with a two‐tier board structure (when the CEO is not the chairman), but significantly lower when the CEO or a board member is the controlling shareholder. These results suggest that both the ownership structure and the board design have implications for the disciplining of managers.     

Non-audit Services and Auditor Independence: New Zealand Evidence

Abstract:  This paper examines evidence in New Zealand about whether auditors providing more non-audit services are less independent. Three sets of tests are used to address the issue. The first examines whether there is a relation between non-audit fees and audit fees, the second examines whether there is a relation between non-audit fees and audit report qualification or modification, and the third examines whether there is a relation between non-audit fees and stability of audit tenure. The results suggest a potential for the impairment of auditor independence in appearance when auditors provide non-audit services but no evidence of any impact on independence of mind.     

Security Choice and Corporate Governance

The most efficient corporate governance structure will vary by firm depending on the costs and benefits of different governance mechanisms. For IPO firms, warrants might act as a substitute for other governance mechanisms ( Schultz, 1993 ). Alternatively, warrants might serve as a signal of high quality, and thus effectively governed, firms ( Chemmanur and Fulghieri, 1997 ), in which case they would act as a complement to other governance mechanisms. We test these competing hypotheses by examining a sample of unit IPO firms (firms issuing warrants with shares) matched to a comparable sample of shares-only firms and show that warrants act as a substitute for other governance mechanisms. The research is also of interest because it shows an interaction between the financing decisions of firms and their corporate governance that has not been documented previously.     

Director Networks and Credit Ratings

We explore the effect of director social capital, directors with large and influential networks, on credit ratings. Using a sample of 11,172 firm‐year observations from 1999 to 2011, we find that larger board networks are associated with higher credit ratings than both firm financial data and probabilities of default predict. Near‐investment grade firms improve their forward‐looking ratings when their board is more connected. Last, we find that larger director networks are more beneficial during recessions, and times of increased financial uncertainty. Our results are robust to controls for endogeneity. Tests confirm that causality runs from connected boards to credit ratings.     

公司治理结构存在问题及对策

在经济全球化进程日趋加快的新形势下 ,加强公司治理已成为国际潮流 ,受到国际企业界的普遍高度重视。本文从简述目前公司治理结构存在的问题着手 ,在此基础上 ,提出几点完善设想 ,以期对公司治理问题展开进一步讨论。