New development: Unified scores of governance capacity using a Bayesian latent variable analysis

A plethora of governance measures has been developed to assess governance capacity in different countries. Choosing one indicator over another involves discretionary decision issues. This article presents a new unified measure of governance capacity for the administrative and political dimensions. The unified measure provides a more accurate understanding of governance than single indices.     

The Relevance of Western Corporate Governance in Mitigating Management Misconduct in Thailand

This article provides empirical evidence on the relevance of structures central to Western models of corporate governance in mitigating management misconduct in Thailand. We find no evidence supporting the effectiveness of Western-based corporate governance structures such as board independence, audit committee effectiveness, and separating the roles of CEO and Board Chair in limiting management misconduct. However, we do find evidence supportive of independent directors with more experience and longer tenure, the presence of institutional ownership, and concentrated controlling ownership in limiting management misconduct. This provides some support for the validity of resource dependency theory in an emerging economy setting.     

International compliance with new Basel Accord principles for risk governance

We assess international compliance with the Basel Committee's 2010 guidance on governance of banking organisations. Based on an extensive examination of regulatory documents in selected advanced economies, we find that reform is incomplete in jurisdictions most affected by the financial crisis, and with the largest financial centres. In contrast, other countries less affected by the financial crisis have enacted risk governance reforms as protection against potential future contagion. We provide insights for policy‐makers charged with improving governance at banks, and a richer understanding for international regulators as they revise the guidelines and aim for greater compliance at the national level.     

将“合伙人制”融入“合作制”的一项尝试——基于MGL合作社的案例解读与探讨

当前,合作社异化已成为阻碍合作社进一步发展的痛点,其中合作制下社员剩余索取权和控制权的丧失是矛盾核心,因而探求其改进方式对合作社长远发展、实现乡村振兴有重要意义。本文基于效率与公平衡量维度,通过对MGL合作社这一典型案例进行剖析发现,有效的合作社在治理结构和利益分配上具备合伙人制特征,并且基本契合不完全契约理论有关能够有效解决契约双方信息不对称以及剩余索取权、控制权被少数社员占有的论述。对此,应充分重视合伙人制在合作社发展中的内在有效性,弱化其是否具有规范的外在形式。     

Does the reputation mechanism apply to independent directors in emerging markets? Evidence from China

We examine whether reputable independent directors improve firm performance and governance quality in emerging markets, using data from China. Firms with such directors, measured as the number of directorships in other listed firms, have higher profitability, operating efficiency and productivity. They suffer from fewer agency problems, pay more cash dividends and have lower likelihoods of receiving modified audit opinions and participating in financial disclosure-related irregularities than their counterparts. In China’s unique institutional context, the reputation mechanism for independent directors applies to firms in regions with weak marketization environments, non-state-owned enterprises and firms without political connections; it also applies when external governance is weak. Overall, reputable independent directors appear to occupy valuable advising and monitoring roles and compensate for weak institutions and governance in China.     

Chair-CEO generation gap and bank risk-taking

Poor bank governance has disastrous consequences for economies as the 2007–2009 financial crisis has shown. In the aftermath, board diversity is identified as an effective mechanism to enhance bank governance. Diversity, creating cognitive conflict between board members, is expected to enhance board's independence of thought to better perform monitoring and advising functions. Age is a key demographic measure and age dissimilarity between the chair and the CEO in non-financial firms leads to better economic outcomes (Goergen, Limbach, & Scholz, 2015). In this paper, we examine whether chair-CEO age dissimilarity can mitigate banks' excessive risk-taking behaviour. Using a unique sample of 100 listed banks in Europe between 2005 and 2014, we find that age difference between the chair and the CEO reduces bank risk-taking. A chair-CEO generational gap –defined as a minimum of 20 years' age difference– has a larger impact in reducing risk-taking.     

Does CEO duality constrain board independence? Some evidence from audit pricing

This study examines whether CEO duality affects the association between board independence and demand for higher quality audits, proxied by audit fee. The findings show that there is a positive association between board independence and audit fees. This result is consistent with findings of Carcello et al. (2002) that more independent boards demand higher audit quality and effort. However, this positive association is only present in firms without CEO duality, thus suggesting that CEO duality constrains board independence. The results support recommendations against CEO duality by showing that dominant CEOs may compromise the independence of their board of directors. Additionally, evidence is provided that board size (the number of directors on the board) is positively associated with audit fee pricing. This is consistent with prior studies that indicate that larger board sizes are associated with inefficiency and negative firm performance.     

审计报告改革对权益资本成本的影响研究

传统审计报告的模式化披露无法满足投资者价值信息获取需求,“审计期望差距”问题日益严重。基于2016年12月颁布的新审计报告准则,选取A+H股上市公司为研究对象,考察审计报告改革对上市公司权益资本成本的影响。结果表明,审计报告改革会显著降低权益资本成本。进一步发现,关键审计事项披露数目越多,权益资本成本越低;审计报告改革降低权益资本成本的效应在信息不对称程度高、内部控制水平低、媒体环境差以及代理冲突高的公司中更为明显。这不仅为审计报告改革的经济后果提供了证据,而且对于提高投资者决策效率以及维护资本市场秩序也具有一定的现实意义。     

公司治理和破产关系的理论与实证研究——基于董事会结构和国有股比例的分析

本文应用代理模型系统地论述了公司治理与破产之间的关系,并在理论分析的基础上,基于中国上市公司的样本数据,运用实证方法直接对董事会结构和国有股比例等公司治理变量与破产(而不是财务困境)之间的关系进行了研究。研究结果表明:公司治理变量对公司破产有显著的解释和预警作用,但是,公司治理发挥作用的程度和用于预警的信息含量具有一定的时效性;公司治理变量与公司破产之间的关系比较复杂,但是国有股持股比例对公司破产概率有显著的影响,要注意董事长—总经理的两职合一与较低国有股持股比例的交叉作用对上市公司价值所可能带来的负面影响。     

真实盈余管理的协同共治——基于地区差异视角的研究

真实盈余管理的自由发展已经成为资本市场难以根治的顽疾。基于BMA方法研究2008-2015年A股上市公司真实盈余管理的表现和治理状况,探索宏微观制度因素差异对真实盈余管理的作用影响。结果显示:(1)近年来上市公司更倾向于经营操控来平滑利润、粉饰报表,真实盈余管理水平分布呈中东部地区高、西部地区相对较低的特征;(2)共23项5个角度的可能影响真实盈余管理的指标中,偿债能力、高管薪酬、会计弹性、盈利能力、第一大股东持股比例、托宾Q、审计事务所类型、股权相对集中度、资金占用和法治水平等指标充分地解释了真实活动操控的作用表现;而5个方面因素作用表现为,股利结构中的持股安排对真实盈余管理作用明显,公司特征是影响真实盈余管理的关键因素,