Do Ownership Structure and Governance Mechanisms have an Effect on Corporate Fraud in China's Listed Firms?

Author(s):  
Gong-meng Chen ◽  
Michael Firth ◽  
Ning Daniel Gao ◽  
Oliver M. Rui
Author(s):  
Xu_Dong Ji ◽  
Kamran Ahmed ◽  
Wei Lu

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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naiwei Chen ◽  
Hao-Chang Sung ◽  
Jingjing Yang

Purpose This paper aims to examine whether and how ownership structure and corporate governance have bearings on the investment efficiency of Chinese listed firms. Design/methodology/approach The authors measure the investment efficiency by following the work of Richardson (2006) and classify listed firms into two categories: state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private firms. OLS regressions with both industry and year fixed effects are used to investigate the effect of ownership structure and governance mechanisms on the listed firms’ investment efficiency. Findings The authors find that ownership concentration has a negative impact on investment efficiency, and this effect is more pronounced in SOEs than in private firms. In addition, adoption of incentive-based compensation helps improve investment efficiency. Compared with other types of institutional investors, mutual funds are more likely to exert a positive effect on the investment efficiency of investee companies. Originality/value This paper examines the monitoring effect of governance mechanisms in China from a new perspective, which is the investment efficiency. Furthermore, previous studies provide minimal evidence indicating any effect of incentive-based compensation on firm performance in China. This study provides empirical evidence on this effect by using incentive-based compensation (whether CEOs have been granted stock options) as an explanatory variable in the regression models.


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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 658-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yousef Hassan ◽  
Rafiq Hijazi ◽  
Kamal Naser

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between audit committee (AC) and a set of other corporate governance mechanisms in one of the emerging economies, United Arab of Emirates (UAE). In particular, the current study examines whether an effective AC can serve as a substitute or as a complement mechanism to board characteristics and ownership structure of Emirati listed non-financial companies. Design/methodology/approach Using substitution and complementary theories, a panel data from 48 nonfinancial companies listed on the UAE Stock Exchanges [Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange and Dubai Financial Market] during the period between 2011 and 2013 were used in the current study. A composite measure of four proxies has been used to measure the AC effectiveness, namely, AC size, independence, financial expertise and diligence. To test the hypotheses formulated for the study, a logistic regression model was used to identify the influence of a set of board characteristics and ownership structure variables on the effectiveness of the AC after controlling for firm size, auditor type, industry type and profitability. Findings While AC effectiveness appeared to be positively associated with board size and board independence, it is negatively associated with CEO duality. This points to a complementary governance relation. On the other hand, the negative relationship between AC effectiveness and each of institutional and government ownership suggests substitutive relations. Research limitations/implications The main shortcoming of the current study is that it examines the influence of a certain set of corporate governance factors on the effectiveness of AC. Other corporate governance mechanisms may, however, contribute to the effectiveness of AC. The findings of the study can be used by companies’ managements and regulators in the UAE to improve the corporate governance system. Originality/value To the best of researchers’ knowledge, this study provides the first evidence about the interaction among multiple governance mechanisms required by the code of corporate governance issued by the UAE Ministry of Economy in 2009. The current paper is expected to add to the limited AC literature in Middle East and North African countries in general and Arab World in particular.


2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-472
Author(s):  
Benjamin Ehikioya ◽  
Yuanjin Qin ◽  
Keifa Xie ◽  
Chen ru Yun

This study investigates how ownership structure impacts on the corporate performance of listed firms in China. The study uses sample data of firms listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges for the five year fiscal period that ended 2005. The results of the panel data regression analysis suggests firm performance to have positive and significant relation with the proportion of shares held by the institution, through the legal person holding companies. In addition, while state ownership indicates negative influence on performance, individual and foreign investors are found to have positive effect on performance, though at a minimal levels. Interestingly, the effect of ownership structure is stronger in firms experiencing the dominance of legal person share holdings over state shares. Further, firm size and ratio of debt to equity are also observed to have influence on the performance of Chinese listed firms. These findings are of great significant to policymakers, academics, shareholders and other stakeholders.


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