scholarly journals Ownership Reform, State Ownership, Corporate Governance, and Agency Costs: The Case of Chinese Listed Companies

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Ratnam Vijayakumaran
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Agency Costs ◽  
State Ownership ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Chinese Listed Companies ◽  
Reform State ◽  
Ownership Reform

The aim of this paper is to examine the effect of 2005-ownership reform and state ownership on the linkages between corporate governance mechanisms and agency costs for Chinese listed firms. Based on a large panel of Chinese listed firms, we find that following the reform managerial ownership, institutional shareholdings and debt financing have emerged as effective governance mechanisms to reduce agency costs only for private-controlled firms in the post reform period. Therefore, our study concludes that the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms differ between state and private controlled firms and state ownership still hinders effectiveness of governance mechanisms among Chinese listed firms. This study contributes to the literature on the implications of ownership reform and state ownership for corporate governance and agency costs at the firm level in transition economies.

Corporate governance and risk in cross-listed and Canadian only companies

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (10) ◽  
pp. 2740-2757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atreya Chakraborty ◽  
Lucia Gao ◽  
Shahbaz Sheikh
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Differential Effect ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
Governance Mechanism ◽  
Firm Risk ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate if there is a differential effect of corporate governance mechanisms on firm risk in Canadian companies cross-listed on US markets and Canadian companies not cross-listed (Canadian only companies). Design/methodology/approach Using a sample comprised of all Canadian companies included in the S&P/TSX Composite Index for the period 2009–2014, this study applies OLS and fixed effect regressions to investigate the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on firm risk. Interaction variables between governance mechanisms and the cross-listing status are used to examine if this effect is different for cross-listed firms. Findings Results indicate that the effect of board characteristics such as size, independence and proportion of female directors remains the same in both cross-listed and not cross-listed firms. CEO duality and insider equity ownership impact firm risk only in cross-listed companies, while institutional shareholdings, environmental, social and governance disclosure and family control affect firm risk in Canadian only firms. Overall, the empirical results indicate that some governance mechanisms impact firm risk only in firms that cross-list, while others are well-suited for Canadian only firms. Practical implications This study suggests that some of the differences between Canadian companies that cross-list and the Canadian companies that do not cross-list in US stock markets may change the impact of governance mechanisms on firm risk. Therefore, these findings have important implications for the design of governance mechanisms in Canadian firms. Since some of these differences are common to other economies, the conclusions can be extended to companies in other countries with similar governance structures. Originality/value Although previous studies have investigated the effect of governance mechanism on firm risk, this is the first paper that studies the differential effect for companies that cross-list in US markets. Specifically, differences in the ownership structure, firm control and in the regulatory and institutional environment, may explain this differential effect. Unlike most of the previous studies that focus on the effect of individual governance mechanisms, this study uses several mechanisms and their interactions at the same time.

The impact of external and internal corporate governance mechanisms on agency costs

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Schäuble
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Agency Costs ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Frontier Analysis ◽  
Audit Firm ◽  
Audit Market ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of external and internal corporate governance mechanisms on agency costs. Design/methodology/approach The author uses data from German firms that were listed in the regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock exchange during 2006-2011. Agency costs were measured using stochastic frontier analysis, a relatively new approach to estimate agency costs. The regression analysis is applied to test the model. Findings The results indicate that an industry specialized audit firm, the presence of a large audit firm, abnormal audit fees, management ownership and variable management compensation are significantly negatively associated with the level of a firms’ agency costs. In contrast, this seems not to be true for the existence of an audit committee for which the results of the paper document a non-significant association. Originality/value The paper contributes to the existing literature in several ways. First, the research design is to the best of the authors’ knowledge the first that investigates the influence of different corporate governance mechanisms on the level of agency costs. Second, previous studies are mainly focused on the US audit market. This focus on the US audit market leaves uncertainties regarding the direction and magnitude of the empirical relationship in the European and German environmental context. Finally, the paper provides initial empirical evidence for a sample of German IFRS listed companies (IFRS – International Financial Reporting Standards).

scholarly journals The effects of corporate governance mechanisms on the financial leverage–profitability relation

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-409
Author(s):  
Hanh Song Thi Pham ◽  
Duy Thanh Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
State Ownership ◽  
Board Independence ◽  
Financial Leverage ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Board Size ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the moderating effects of corporate governance mechanisms on the financial leverage–profitability relation in emerging market firms. Design/methodology/approach The paper examines the impacts by estimating the empirical model in which a firm’s accounting profitability is a dependent variable, while financial leverage, board size, board independence, CEO duality, CEO ownership, state ownership and the interaction variables are predictors. The paper uses the panel data set of 295 listed firms in Vietnam in the period 2011-2015 and two key econometric methods for panel data, namely, the two-stage least square instrumental variable and general moments method. Findings The paper finds the evidence for the significant and positive effect of board size, board independence and state ownership on the financial leverage–profitability relation. The effect of CEO duality on the financial leverage–profitability relation tends to be negative, and the impact CEO ownership inclines to be positive, although both of them are statistically insignificant. The results are consistent across different estimation methods. Originality/value This paper is the first investigating the moderating effect of various corporate governance mechanisms on the financial leverage–profitability relationship in emerging market firms.

The Impact of Corporate Governance Mechanisms on the Relationship Between Cash Holdings and Audit Fees in Egyptian Listed Companies

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 314
Author(s):  
Eman Abdel-Wanis
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Cash Holdings ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

This paper explores the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on the nature of the relationship between cash holdings and audit fees, which helps provide an opportunity to identify whether these mechanisms enable to mitigate agency problems, and thus lower audit fees through a sample of 78 Egyptian listed firms in EGX 100 during the period 2014-2016 using panel data analysis. Results indicated that cash holding increases auditing fees. The board characteristics affect negatively on the relationship between cash holdings and audit fees. Also, ownership structure affects negatively on the relationship between cash holdings and audit fees. As well audit committee affects negatively on the relationship between cash holdings and audit fees. There results support the view that corporate governance mitigate on the relationship between cash holdings and audit fees.

scholarly journals The influence of internal corporate governance mechanisms on capital structure decisions of Chinese listed firms

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 444-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agyenim Boateng ◽  
Huifen Cai ◽  
Daniel Borgia ◽  
Xiao Gang Bi ◽  
Franklin Nnaemeka Ngwu
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Capital Structure ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
The State ◽  
Ownership Concentration ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of internal corporate governance mechanisms on the capital structure decisions of Chinese-listed firms. Design/methodology/approach Using a large and more recent data set consisting of 2,386 Chinese-listed firms over the period from 1998 to 2012, the authors use different statistical methods (OLS, fixed effects and system GMM) to analyse the effects of firm-specific and corporate governance influences on capital structure. Findings The authors find that the proportion of independent directors and ownership concentration exert significant influence on the level of Chinese long-term debt ratios after controlling for firm-specific determinants and split share reforms. Further analysis separating the sample of this paper into state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and privately owned enterprises (POEs) suggests that ownership concentration in the hands of the state leads to decrease in debt ratios. Research limitations/implications The finding implies that concentrated ownership in the hands of the state appears more efficient compared to their private counterparts in their monitoring role. Originality/value This paper extends prior literature, which has concentrated disproportionately on firm-specific influences on capital structure, to the effects of within-firm governance mechanisms on capital structure decisions. The paper contributes to the agency theory–capital structure discourse in an emerging country context where corporate governance system appears weak.

The impact of corporate governance and ownership structure reforms on earnings quality in China

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu_Dong Ji ◽  
Kamran Ahmed ◽  
Wei Lu
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Ownership Structures ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of corporate governance and ownership structures on earnings quality in China both prior and subsequent to two important corporate reforms: the code of corporate governance (CCG) in 2002 and the split share structure reform (SSR) in 2005. Design/methodology/approach – This study utilises informativeness of earnings (earnings response coefficient), conditional accounting conservatism and managerial discretionary accruals to assess earnings quality using 12,267 firm-year observations over 11 years from 2000 to 2010. Further, two dummy variables for measuring the changes of CCG and SSR are employed to estimate the effects of CCG and SSR reforms on earnings quality via OLS regression. Findings – This study finds that the promulgation of the CCG in 2002 has had a positive impact, but the SSR reform in 2005 has had little effect on listed firms’ earnings quality in China. These results hold good after controlling for a number of ownership, governance and other variables and estimating models with multiple measures of earnings’ quality. Research limitations/implications – Future research could focus on how western style corporate governance mechanisms have been constrained by the old management systems and governmental dominated ownership structures in Chinese listed firms. The conclusion is that simply coping Western corporate governance model is not suitable for every country. Practical implications – The results will assist Chinese regulators in improving reporting quality, ownership structure and governance mechanisms in China. The results will help international investors better understand quality of financial information in China. Originality/value – This is the first to our knowledge that addresses the effects of major governance and ownership reforms together on accounting earnings quality and, thus, makes a significant contribution on understanding the effect of regulatory reforms on improving earnings quality. In doing so, it also indirectly assesses the effectiveness of western-style corporate governance mechanisms introduced in China.

scholarly journals Does better corporate governance attract foreign equity ownership? Evidence from Malaysian listed companies

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 118-125
Author(s):  
Yap Voon Choong ◽  
Chan Kok Thim ◽  
John Stanley Murugesu
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Agency Cost ◽  
Government Ownership ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Insider Ownership ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Good Corporate Governance ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Governance Practices ◽  
Equity Ownership

This study examines the effect of firm-level corporate governance variables on foreign equity ownership (FEO) in Malaysia. Foreign equity ownership can be an important source of capital for companies to fund their expansion and growth. To attract FEO, good corporate governance practices are vital because these practices are used to reduce or mitigate agency cost. Based on a sample of listed firms on Bursa Malaysia and employing multiple regression analysis, the study finds that a number of corporate governance mechanisms significantly improve the ability of companies to attract foreign equity ownership, especially, Insider Ownership, Government Ownership, Firm Size, Dividend Yield and Tobin’s Q. The results of the study indicate that firm-level efforts for better corporate governance sends positive signals and confidence to foreign investors.

scholarly journals Does Corporate Governance Have a Say on Dividends in Australian Listed Companies?

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-75
Author(s):  
Omar Al Farooque ◽  
Ali Hamid ◽  
Lan Sun
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Dividend Policy ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Managerial Ownership ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Governance Practices

This paper investigates whether corporate governance has an impact on dividend policy in Australian listed firms. The empirical studies of corporate governance and dividend policy in the Australian context tend to have a limited scope and the findings are mixed. Unlike the existing literature, this paper provides a more comprehensive examination of the relationship between dividend policy and corporate governance mechanisms. Using a sample of 1,438 firm-year observations for the period of 2005 to 2011 and the panel data approach, this study finds that dividend payout is significantly positively (negatively) correlated with board size, board independence, institutional ownership and use of a Big-4 audit firm (CEO duality and managerial ownership). Moreover, dividend yield is significantly positively (negatively) correlated with managerial ownership (foreign ownership). These findings suggest that dividend policy and corporate governance mechanisms are complementary i.e. firms paying higher dividends are more likely to engage in good governance practices as well as having strong monitoring and control systems in place and therefore both dividend policy and corporate governance are considered as effective tools in reducing agency costs.

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