scholarly journals A Short Comparative Study of Corporate Governance in European National Legal Systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 207-216
Author(s):  
Ovidiu Ioan Dumitru ◽  
Nicolae Marius Vavura

Corporate Governance has developed immensely in the last decades mainly due to the negative effects on shareholders’s of management decisions leading to a continuous conflict to be solved by the policymakers and academics. After the publication of the Cadbury Report, we noticed an increase interest in drafting corporate governance codes, the American and European legislators being the most active, but recent financial crisis reduced confidence in the results of corporate governance quality, some authors asserting even that the poor implementation of the policies in the area have leaded to the crisis. This paper wants to show the diversity of corporate governance standards present today in different national legal systems, by comparing its main elements like protection of shareholders and stakeholders’ interests,  board structures and operations and control, oversight and reporting.  

Author(s):  
Sorana Mihaela Manoiu ◽  
Maria Ionela Damian ◽  
Jiří Strouhal

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the compliance of Romanian listed companies with corporate governance codes. From 2010, the “Comply or Explain” Statement, which discloses if and how the corporate governance principles are applied, became mandatory for all companies listed on Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE). The methodology employed is based on the analysis of the above mentioned Statements published for the period 2009-2013. Research aims to present through a longitudinal and qualitative study the evolution of the compliance with the BSE Corporate Governance Codes. Most of the observed companies made a step forward in what concerns corporate governance principles and over the study period they disclosed more information on their statements. On the other hand, we found cases where the statements made over the studied period contained inconsistencies for some principles. The implementation of corporate governance rules ensures transparent decision-making, based on clear rules and objectives, and increases shareholders’ confidence in the company.     


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Varun Bhandari ◽  
Ashima Arora

Corporate governance (CG) gained widespread prominence as a medium for boosting corporate performance especially after the financial crisis of 2008. With limited empirical work on factors influencing the CG quality (CGQ), this article focuses on the construction of the CG Index (CGI) by considering a total of 64 attributes encapsulated in five sub-indices followed by the investigation of effect of shareholder activism and firm-level variables on it. The estimations are based on companies listed in S&P CNX NIFTY Index from the financial year 2008–2013. The examination of results relays that both shareholder activism and firm-level variables have a significant impact on the CGQ of the firms. The significant impact of Disclosure and Board Index on the performance of firms emphasised the importance of disclosure norms in driving the performance by improving investor perceptions through higher transparency. And active board contributes in dispelling agency and managerial issues assisting in improving firm’s value. Our findings imply that shareholder activism and firm-level variables help in bolstering the quality of CG. Large concentrated holdings limit the power in few hands that deter the use of effective shareholder activism and thus should be reduced to enhance the quality of governance. The policymakers and regulators are needed to pressurise institutional investors for active participation in the companies’ routine decisions to increase vigilance regarding CG issues.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sorana Mihaela Manoiu ◽  
Maria Ionela Damian ◽  
Jiří Strouhal

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to analyse the compliance of Romanian listed companies with corporate governance codes. From 2010, the “Comply or Explain” Statement, which discloses if and how the corporate governance principles are applied, became mandatory for all companies listed on Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE). The methodology employed is based on the analysis of the above mentioned Statements published for the period 2009-2013. Research aims to present through a longitudinal and qualitative study the evolution of the compliance with the BSE Corporate Governance Codes. Most of the observed companies made a step forward in what concerns corporate governance principles and over the study period they disclosed more information on their statements. On the other hand, we found cases where the statements made over the studied period contained inconsistencies for some principles. The implementation of corporate governance rules ensures transparent decision-making, based on clear rules and objectives, and increases shareholders’ confidence in the company.


2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hye Seung (Grace) Lee ◽  
Xu Li ◽  
Heibatollah Sami

SYNOPSIS In this study, we examine the impact of conditional conservatism on audit fees and, more importantly, the influence of corporate governance on this relationship. Prior literature presents evidence regarding explanations for the existence and pervasiveness of accounting conservatism such as compensation and debt contracting, shareholder litigation, taxation, and accounting regulation. However, there is very limited evidence or discussion of the potential benefit of accounting conservatism on audit risk and thus audit fees, and how the potential benefit can be attenuated by corporate governance quality. Using a sample of firm-year observations over the period of 2004–2009, we provide evidence consistent with conditional conservatism and firms' commitment to such conservatism reducing their audit fees. However, our evidence shows that this reduction in audit fees is moderated by higher corporate governance quality. These results have implications for auditors, regulators, standard setters, and firms' managers. In addition, our study extends the literature on the determinants of audit fees. JEL Classifications: M41; M42; D81; D22.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Erol Muzir ◽  
Cevdet Kizil ◽  
Burak Ceylan

This paper aims to develop some static and conditional (dynamic) models to predict portfolio returns in the Borsa Istanbul (BIST) that are calibrated to combine the capital asset-pricing model (CAPM) and corporate governance quality. In our conditional model proposals, both the traditional CAPM (beta) coefficient and model constant are allowed to vary on a binary basis with any degradation or improvement in the country’s international trade competitiveness, and meanwhile a new variable is added to the models to represent the portfolio’s sensitivity to excess returns on the governance portfolio (BIST Governance) over the market. Some robust and Bayesian linear models have been derived using the monthly capital gains between December 2009 and December 2019 of four leading index portfolios. A crude measure is then introduced that we think can be used in assessing governance quality of portfolios. This is called governance quality score (GQS). Our robust regression findings suggest both superiority of conditional models assuming varying beta coefficients over static model proposals and significant impact of corporate governance quality on portfolio returns. The Bayesian model proposals, however, exhibited robust findings that favor the static model with fixed beta estimates and were lacking in supporting significance of corporate governance quality.


2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill Francis ◽  
Iftekhar Hasan ◽  
Qiang Wu

SYNOPSIS Using the recent financial crisis as a natural quasi-experiment we test whether, and to what extent, conservative accounting affects shareholder value. We find that there is a significantly positive and economically meaningful relation between conservatism and firm stock performance during the current crisis. The result holds for alternative measures of conservatism and is validated in a series of robustness checks. We further find that the relation between conservatism and firm value is more pronounced for firms with weaker corporate governance or higher information asymmetry. Overall, our paper complements LaFond and Watts (2008) by providing empirical evidence to their argument that conservatism is an efficient governance mechanism to mitigate information risk and control for agency problems, and that shareholders benefit from it. JEL Classifications: M41; M48; G01.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Adel Elzahaby

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to propose an analytical model that investigates both a direct path between corporate governance quality and earnings quality and an indirect path, in which firms' performance is a mediating variable that is influenced by corporate governance quality and that, in turn, influences earnings quality.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a structural equation modelling (SEM), to a sample of Egyptian listed firms during 2011–2017, to test the proposed analytical model and to determine the relative importance of both the direct and indirect paths.FindingsThe findings show a statistically significant evidence of both a direct path from corporate governance quality to earnings quality, and an indirect path that is mediated by firms' performance, suggesting that both corporate governance quality and performance have a complementary effect on earnings quality. However, the weight of the evidence favouring the direct path is more important in case of accounting-based performance measures; and the weight of the evidence favouring the indirect path is more important in case of market-based performance measures.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study has some limitations. First, the study focuses specifically on one proxy for measuring earnings quality which is the absolute value of discretionary accruals. Other proxies of earnings quality could be examined in future research, such as income smoothing, earnings persistence and timely loss recognition. Another limitation is that only financial performance measures were examined, namely, return on assets, return on equity, price-to-earnings ratio and market-to-book value. Notwithstanding, non-financial performance measures could be investigated in future studies, such as balanced scorecard (BSC). Furthermore, considering cultural, political and legislative differences among countries, the results may not be generalised outside the scope of the current sample (i.e. Egyptian listed firms).Practical implicationsThe implications of the findings for both theory and practice are discussed.Originality/valueThis study is distinguished by validating an analytical model that has been overlooked by prior studies. Moreover, it provides a new constructed index for measuring corporate governance quality. Furthermore, it uses a new sophisticated statistical technique, which is SEM, for testing the proposed model.


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