Board composition and value relevance of Ghanaian firms: a seemingly unrelated regression approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Agyemang Badu ◽  
Ebenezer Nyarko Assabil

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the connection between board composition and value relevance of financial information in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a panel data of 144 firm-year observations of listed firms in Ghana.FindingsThe study finds that a higher fraction of independent directors is associated with lower firm value. The study further finds that board size is positively related to firm value, whereas duality is negatively associated with firm value.Practical implicationsThe practical implication of this paper is that investors and regulators should be mindful that specifying governance composition should not only be based on “so-called” codes of best practices but also the level of the country's or the sector's development and local institutional structures.Originality/valueThis study uses five different measurements of market share and considers the impact of the provision of the Code of Best Practices in Ghana.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmi A. Boshnak

PurposeThis study examines the impact of board composition and ownership structure variables on dividend payout policy in Saudi Arabian firms. In particular, it aims to determine the effect of board size, independence and meeting frequency, in addition to chief executive officer (CEO) duality, and state, institutional, managerial, family, and foreign ownership on both the propensity to pay dividends and dividend per share for Saudi-listed firms over the period 2016–2019.Design/methodology/approachThe paper captures dividend policy with two measures, propensity to pay dividends and dividend per share, and employs a range of regression methods (logistic, probit, ordinary least squares (OLS) and random effects regressions) along with a two-stage least squares (2SLS) model for robustness to account for heteroscedasticity, serial correlation and endogeneity issues. The data set is a large panel of 280 Saudi-listed firms over the period 2016 to 2019.FindingsThe results underline the importance of board composition and the ownership structure in explaining variations in dividend policy across Saudi firms. More specifically, there is a positive relationship between the propensity to pay dividends and board-meeting frequency, institutional ownership, firm profitability and firm age, while the degree of board independence, firm size and leverage exhibit a negative relation. Further, dividend per share is positively related to board meeting frequency, institutional ownership, foreign ownership, firm profitability and age, while it is negatively related to CEO duality, managerial ownership, and firm leverage. There is no evidence that family ownership exerts an impact on dividend payout policy in Saudi firms. The findings of this study support agency, signalling, substitute and outcome theories of dividend policy.Research limitations/implicationsThis study offers an important insight into the board characteristic and ownership structure drivers of dividend policy in the context of an emerging market. Moreover, the study has important implications for firms, managers, investors, policymakers, and regulators in Saudi Arabia.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the existing literature by providing evidence on four board and five ownership characteristic drivers of dividend policy in Saudi Arabia as an emerging stock market, thereby improving on less comprehensive previous studies. The study recommends that investors consider board composition and ownership structure characteristics of firms as key drivers of dividend policy when making stock investment decisions to inform them about the propensity of investee firms to pay dividends and maintain a given dividend policy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1089-1098
Author(s):  
Erik Mooi ◽  
Vishal Kashyap ◽  
Marc van Aken

Purpose This paper aims to consider the impact of contractual and normative governance mechanisms on recommendation intent in a context of healthcare and professional lighting where repeat business from a customer is absent. The authors suggest both contractual and normative governance can create recommendation intent, but only when sufficient customer value is created. Design/methodology/approach The authors draw on a combination of survey and archival data from the supplier and customer in the medical equipment and advanced (business) lighting systems industries. The authors analyze the data using seemingly unrelated regression and mediation tests. Findings Contracts and relational norms can increase customer recommendation intent, but only when the supplier creates customer value. Practical implications The paper’s findings suggest that customers of business solutions are more likely to recommend their supplier when contracts are relatively detailed and when buyers and suppliers attempt to craft strong relational norms, despite service solutions being delivered during a relatively short time span. Originality/value The extant research on business solutions has focused on extended relationships between exchange partners with a high likelihood of repeated transactions. The authors demonstrate how to govern relationships in a solutions context where the likelihood of repeat business from the same customer is low using contractual and normative governance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amrinder Khosa

Purpose This study aims to examine the effect of board independence on firm valuation of group-affiliated firms in distinct Indian setting. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a sample of 317 listed firms comprising 1,350 firm-year observations for the period 2008-2012. The value-relevance model is used to examine the effect of board independence on market value of equity. Findings The distinct finding of an inverse relationship between board independence and firm value of group-affiliated firms in India illustrates that effective monitoring by outside directors is largely influenced by the institutional setting and ownership structure. This study does not find any evidence of different valuation when comparing non-family CEOs and family CEOs. Practical implications Independent directors play an important role to stop abusive use of related-party transactions in an environment where principal–principal conflict exists. The study’s findings will prove useful in determining whether one should rely merely on the independent status of outside directors or the influence of institutional setting on effective governance. Originality/value This paper contributes to the existing literature in the following ways: it helps to gain a better understanding of business groups which are characterised by unique governance structures and the dominance of controlling families on the board, which makes the external governance mechanisms (i.e. independent directors and non-family CEOs) ineffective and it illustrates that effective monitoring by outside directors is largely influenced by the institutional setting and ownership structure.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjun Cai ◽  
Jianlin Wu ◽  
Jibao Gu

PurposeInnovation has been identified as a critical element to achieve firms' growth. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of chief executive officer (CEO) passion on firm innovation, including exploratory and exploitative innovation and examine the moderating roles of market and technological turbulence.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts the methodology of survey and uses multisource and time-lagged data of 146 firms in China. Seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) is used to test the hypotheses of this study.FindingsThis study finds that CEO passion promotes exploratory and exploitative innovation. Results also indicate that market turbulence strengthens the effect of CEO passion on exploratory and exploitative innovation, whereas technological turbulence weakens such an effect.Originality/valueCEO passion is an important, positive affect which inspires CEOs to work for firms, but it has not yet received enough attention in the innovation literature. This study contributes to examining the impact of CEO passion on firm innovation and contributes to the contingency under which CEO passion influences firm innovation. Furthermore, this research finds that the moderating effects of market and technological turbulence are different in the relationship between CEO passion and firm innovation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahid Irshad Younas ◽  
Christian Klein ◽  
Thorsten Trabert ◽  
Bernhard Zwergel

Purpose Corporate governance is a crucial factor when considering excessive corporate risk-taking. Since corporate boards play such an important role in corporate governance, the purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the impact of board composition and further board characteristics on excessive corporate risk-taking. Design/methodology/approach This study investigates listed firms from Germany and the USA from 2004 to 2015 based on data from Thomson Reuters Data Stream. The authors apply the fixed effect and random effect estimation method to demonstrate the impact of board composition on corporate risk-taking. Findings This study provides empirical evidence that an increase in the proportion of independent directors is associated with less corporate risk-taking. These effects are stronger among German firms. Lastly, the effects of board size and audit committee effectiveness (AUCE) on risk-taking have mixed results. Research limitations/implications The results favor continued efforts to strengthen the composition of corporate boards and improve the effectiveness of audit committees to curb unhealthy corporate risk-taking. The recommendations from the research will provide regulators and corporate management with the necessary information needed to design an appropriate independent board structure, and board size (BOSI). The research will, furthermore, fortify the indispensability of financial experts on audit committees. Originality/value This study contributes to the agency theory debate with these findings. Stronger board independence enables a better monitoring of the CEO, which leads to decision making based on a more appropriate level of risk.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 442-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darush Yazdanfar ◽  
Peter Öhman

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to seek to investigate the impact of cash conversion cycle (CCC) on performance (i.e. profitability) in Swedish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the 2008-2011 period. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) model to analyse cross-sectional panel data covering 13,797 SMEs operating in four industries. Findings – The study provides empirical evidence that CCC significantly affects profitability. In addition, the firm-level control variables size, age, and industry affiliation significantly affect firm profitability. These findings imply that managers could increase firm profitability by improving their working capital management. Research limitations/implications – The present study is limited to a sample of Swedish SMEs in four industries; further research could examine the generalizability of these findings to other countries and industries. Practical implications – Improved working capital policy could improve firm profitability by reducing the firm's CCC, thereby creating additional firm value. In addition, the results can be used for other purposes, including monitoring of firms by auditors, debt holders, and other stakeholders. Originality/value – The present study contributes to the literature by employing a SUR model to analyse a comprehensive cross-sectoral sample in a high-tax environment. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study to address this issue in the Swedish context based on a large data set covering SMEs in various industries.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 1196-1206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalim Ullah Bhat ◽  
Yan Chen ◽  
Khalil Jebran ◽  
Niaz Ahmed Bhutto

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how corporate governance instruments impact firm value in the context of Pakistan. This paper considers state- and non-state-owned enterprises and examines whether the influence of corporate governance on firm value varies across firms having different nature of ownership. Design/methodology/approach This study opts for an unbalanced sample of state- and non-state-owned enterprises for the period 2010-2014. Panel data regression is adopted for estimation of main results. The suitable model, i.e. fixed and random effect model, is selected using Hausman specification test. Findings The notable findings show that board independence has a significant and positive relationship with firm value only for state-owned companies. Furthermore, the results show that market capitalization and return on assets have a significant and positive association with firm value for both state- and non-state-owned enterprises. All other variables are found insignificant for both state- and non-state-owned companies, but the results are consistent with those reported in previous studies. Practical implication The findings of the study suggest that fair induction of independent directors, appropriate board size and cost-benefit analysis to conduct frequent meetings can help corporations to improve their performance. Originality/value This study is adding to the current literature by providing new insights and shows that the impact of corporate governance on firm value varies across firms of different types of ownership, i.e. state- and non-state-owned enterprises.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-111
Author(s):  
Waqas Bin Khidmat ◽  
Man Wang ◽  
Sadia Awan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the value relevance of Research and development (R&D) and free cash flow (FCF) in an efficient investment setup. Most importantly, this paper examines whether the value relevance of R&D and FCF is associated with life cycle stages. Furthermore, this paper reports whether the market response to R&D and FCF is different in competitive market as compared to the concentrated market. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on the Ohlson (1995) model for the determination of value relevance of earnings and book value. Capitalized R&D and FCF data comprising of the Chinese A-listed firms from the year 2008 to 2016 are selected for this study. Following Anthony and Ramesh (1992), the authors divided the firm life cycle into different stages. HHI index is used to measure the product market competition. Findings The main result shows that R&D and FCF are value relevant in Chinese A-listed firms. The impact of R&D and FCF on the value relevance of earnings and book value is also positive and significant. The findings of the effect of R&D and FCF on the value relevance of accounting information signify that the information content (R2=0.46) of the mature stage is higher than that of the growth and stagnant stage. The explanatory power measured by R2 value for competitive industries (0.47) is much higher than the concentrated industries (0.33). Research limitations/implications Despite taking into account all the possible available variables, there are few limitations of the study. This study only studies the effect of EPS, BPS, R&D and FCF on the value relevance of accounting information. Other determinant such as size, growth, leverage and firm age is ignored. Since the R&D expenditure is discretionary, therefore the findings cannot be generalized to all the sectors. A sector wise comparative study can be done in future, to understand the differences in the information contents of R&D and FCF. Also, the tax effect of R&D is ignored in this study. For future call, the value relevance of tax effect on R&D can be explored. Practical implications The investors can now determine the present value of all the future cash flows of investing activities. The results of the study are significant for the Chinese investors who should incorporate the R&D and FCF along with investment efficiency. The investors should keep in mind the life cycle stage while investing in a certain stock. The competitive markets have more information content than the concentrated markets. The corporate managers can benefit from this study while issuing new shares. The market responds positively to the stock having investment efficient R&D and FCF investment. For the policy implication perspective, the security market regulator should devise the effective pro-effective product market regulations. Originality/value The contribution of this study is manifold. First, according to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that incorporates investment efficiency with R&D and FCF and explores its effect on the value relevance of accounting information. Second, the impact of R&D on the value relevance is studied by numerous researchers (Lev and Sougiannis, 1996; Han and Manry, 2004). Similarly, FCF-agency cost effect has also been investigated by (Rahman and Mohd-Saleh, 2008; Chen et al., 2012) but the value relevance of R&D and FCF during different life cycle stages still needs to be answered. Finally, this study also tries to answers the question if the market response to R&D and FCF is different in a competitive market as compared to the concentrated market.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonty Tshipa ◽  
Leon Brummer ◽  
Hendrik Wolmarans ◽  
Elda Du Toit

PurposeConsidering that the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has enacted in its Listings Requirements, compliance of listed firms to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and King Code of Good Corporate Governance, this study aims to investigate the impact of internal corporate governance attributes on the value relevance of accounting information in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachThe fixed effect generalised least squares regression is used for the period from 2002 to 2014. Proxies for internal corporate governance are the size of the board, leadership structure, board activity, staggered board, boardroom independence, presence of key committees and board gender diversity. Value relevance is measured using the adjustedR2derived from a regression of stock price on earnings and equity book values by following Ohlson’s accounting-based valuation framework.FindingsThe findings suggest that the net asset value per share is value-relevant in South African listed firms and also when the boardroom is largely independent. The value of earnings per share (EPS) is more robust when corporate governance structures, such as separating the roles of chief executive officer and chairperson, proportion of board-independent board members and presence of board committees, are in place. This suggests that EPS favours agency and resource dependence theories.Practical implicationsThe value relevance of accounting information in the South African financial market underscores the importance of requisite rules and supervision regarding financial reporting to allow asset owners and managers in the allocation of capital decisions. This study supports the view that corporate governance plays a key role in ensuring, amongst others, credible financial reporting. The outcome of this study could inform the JSE to enforce, even stricter, compliance with IFRS and corporate governance to improve the value relevance of financial information.Social implicationsSignificant corporate governance reforms around the world suggest that regulators and policy makers consider corporate governance as a pertinent tonic in ensuring, amongst others, credible financial reporting. The implications of the study might assure users of financial information of how compliance to corporate governance practices may influence the value of the firm. This paper provides empirical evidence in the South African context that EPS, unlike net asset value per share, is driven by corporate governance structures.Originality/valueThe period of this study is unique, because it covers a relatively stable economic period before the financial crisis, a challenging and unstable period of time when the financial crisis materialised, and the aftermath of the financial crisis. In addition, the examination period of the study also covers the two corporate governance reforms in South Africa, King II in 2002 and King III in 2009, as well as the new Companies Act No. 71 of 2008. These exogenous factors may influence the results.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nosakhare Peter Osazuwa ◽  
Ayoib Che-Ahmad

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of profitability and leverage on the relationship between eco-efficiency and firm value. Design/methodology/approach The study extends the Ohlson’s model on value relevance using the hierarchical regression analysis to establish the moderating effects of the firm-specific variables. The sample includes 667 non-financial firms from the Bursa Malaysia, as of 2013. The data for eco-efficiency were extracted from content analysis of the annual report, whereas the financial data were retrieved from the data stream. Findings The study provides support for the stakeholder theory that purports that managers must develop a relationship with stakeholders by embarking on environmental friendly practices to maintain a positive firm value. The study shows a positive association between eco-efficiency and the value of the firm and provides support for a positive moderating relationship for profitability in the relationship between eco-efficiency and firm value, whereas there was no significant effect for leverage in the relationship. Research limitations/implications It should be noted that, first, the data comprised exclusively Malaysian companies. Including firms from similar developing countries with varying institutional make-up and culture would enhance the understanding of the subject. Second, considering that the data for this study is cross-sectional, it may not be sufficient to draw strong causal influences. The study is the first to the best of the researcher’s knowledge to provide evidence that profitability positively moderates the relationship between eco-efficiency and firm value. Practical implications The result shows the management and potential investors that an investment in eco-efficiency will lead to a higher firm value, irrespective of the debt profile of the firm and that profitable firms are more likely to embark on an eco-efficient policy. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by providing evidence from a developing country’s perspective, as well as extending prior studies that merely examined the direct relationship, to now explore the moderating relationship of profitability and leverage in the relationship between eco-efficiency and firm value using a large sample.


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