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Nowadays, the call for sustainable development is becoming stronger in all countries of the world, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, as a vivid practice of this concept, has gradually received extensive attention from enterprises and investors. Financial institutions have an important position in the national economy as an important tool for the state to regulate the macroeconomy. Whether ESG performance can improve financial institutions' efficiency is of key significance for boosting sustainable development. Based on data from China's listed financial institutions from 2015 to 2021, this study aims to investigate the impact of ESG performance on financial institutions. The robust nonparametric boundary model and fixed-effects model are employed for analysis. The empirical results demonstrate that ESG performance and its sub-indicators of environmental performance and social responsibility performance can significantly enhance financial institutions' efficiency. In particular, this effect is more pronounced in the securities industry and diversified financial industry, as well as in non-state and small-scale financial institutions. The results remain unchanged after a series of robustness tests. Furthermore, the mechanism tests indicate that ESG performance can enhance financial institutions' efficiency by reducing downside risk and agency costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The survival of zombie firms severely crowds out healthy corporate investment and employment growth, eventually undermining economic growth potential. Hence, how to properly address the problem of corporate zombification is an essential part of achieving high‐quality economic development in China. In recent years, the phenomenon of common institutional ownership has become increasingly widespread in the capital markets and has a significant impact on the strategic decisions of companies. There are currently two views on the corporate governance role of common institutional ownership: the synergistic governance effect and the collusive fraud effect. Using data from Chinese‐listed firms from 2009 to 2021, this paper finds that common institutional ownership can significantly inhibit the formation of zombie firms. The higher the degree of their linkage and the greater the shareholding, the more pronounced the synergistic effect. The findings remained valid after considering the endogeneity issue and conducting robustness tests. Furthermore, the mechanism test suggests that common institutional ownership inhibits the formation of zombie firms by improving internal control quality and reducing agency costs. This paper contributes to the study of how to inhibit the formation of zombie firms by identifying common institutional ownership from the perspective of external governance mechanisms. In addition, this paper enriches the research on the economic consequences of common institutional ownership. Finally, various practical implications for policymakers may be realised, which may help curb the trend of corporate zombification through equity‐based instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate governance (CG) is the system of rules, procedures, and processes by which an organization is operated and controlled. Effective corporate governance helps mitigate risk by ensuring the company complies with applicable laws and regulations and maintains appropriate internal controls. CG is an essential aspect of the overall management of companies and can have a significant impact on their Financial Performance (FP). In China, CG practices have undergone significant modifications over the last few years as the country shifted from a centrally planned economy to a market‐based economy. The study's novelty evaluated the effect of corporate governance on finance and Chinese‐listed firm creation. Data obtained from 345 employees working in 8 firms in China, the relationship between CG, financial performance, and innovation is investigated. The study adopted PLS‐SEM analysis and the findings of the study indicate that CG is positively related to better FP and innovation output. The study analysis found that firms with stronger governance structures have better access to external financing, lower agency costs, and higher levels of innovation investment. Also, the result identified that improving CG can lead to better FP and innovation, which in turn improves the firm's competitiveness and long‐term sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two dimensions of the intensity of interparty rivalry are used to test the hypothesis that greater interparty competition enhances government efficiency. Using data from a set of 14 large Indian state governments between 1957 and 2018, we find confirmation for two political rivalry hypotheses. The first is that the ex-post size of the first versus second place seat share winning margin is a useful metric of the (in)effectiveness of rival party policing of incumbent spending behavior. The second is the hypothesis that excessive spending by the incumbent governing party is decreased by the expectation of greater election contestability and that contestability is related to the expected effective number of competing parties (ENPSeats) nonmonotonically. Our analysis suggests that contestability across Indian States reaches a maximum when the incumbent faces an expectation of ENPSeats that is closer to 5 than to Duverger's 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We find a positive association between institutional ownership and social capital. The social norms in a region, while not imposed by businesses or laws, play a monitoring role that disciplines managers from self‐serving behaviors. The resulting trustworthiness, through its mitigation of agency problems, drives the investment preferences of institutions. Our subsample analyses based on information asymmetry and financial performance support this inference. Further, the positive association is evident for transient investors and quasi‐indexers but not for dedicated institutional investors. Overall, our study underscores the impact of informal governance on institutions' investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the analysis of data from listed enterprises in China between 2011 and 2022, we investigate the influence of digital transformation on the governance efficiency for minority shareholders. The results show that the extent of digital transformation exert a negative effect on the agency costs incurred from related-party transactions. The mechanism examination elucidates that digital transformation augments the governance efficiency for minority shareholders by boosting attendance at shareholders' meetings and enhancing the exit threat for minority shareholders. Subsequent analysis reveals that non-state-owned enterprises, compared to state-owned enterprises, exhibit a more pronounced effect in diminishing the second type of agency costs through digital transformation. Furthermore, the impact of digital transformation in curtailing agency costs is more significant in the eastern regions than central and western regions. The better the equity checks and balances in listed enterprises, the more effective digital transformation is in reducing agency costs. This study offers valuable insights for bolstering the governance capacity of minority shareholders in the context of digital transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a recent innovative transport concept, anticipated to oblige significant changes in current transport practices. This study aimed to develop a methodology to justify the potential MaaS adoption. For this purpose, an innovative methodology is presented to identify four types of stations, including "Transit (servicing travelers by bus)", "Micro-mobility (servicing travelers by bike and scooter)", "MaaS (servicing travelers by bus, bike, scooter, and Uber)", and "None (no station)" for each node. The proposed methodology minimizes the total user and agency costs, including user travel time cost, out-of-pocket costs, agency construction costs for MaaS and agency MaaS operating costs. The methodology was tested with a 100 node transport network with existing bus routes. The following results were acquired: 1) Construction of micro-mobility station was not justified for 42 nodes and 37 nodes in 20-years and 30-years life cycles if only 20% of demand from shortest path demand select micro-mobility options 2) Over 20-years and 30-years life cycles, the operator benefits from daily savings amounting to $18,520 and $16,033, respectively, and 3) There are no consistent results to justify the MaaS construction and operation based on existence of the transit stations. In other words, the justification depends on users' shortest trip paths, amount of demand, and existing transit stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between corporate governance (CG) and agency costs using Korean market data, particularly for chaebol firms. The final sample includes 660 firm-year observations between 2016 and 2020 for Korean non-financial firms listed on the Korean Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI). This study employs an ordinary least-squares panel data regression model using two proxies for agency costs, namely, asset utilization ratio and operating expense ratio, and six CG individual metrics as independent variables (CG score, protection of shareholder rights, board structure, disclosure, audit organization, and managerial discretion and error management). We find that firms with high CG experience lower agency costs than those with low CG. Moreover, our evidence suggests that firms can decrease agency costs by improving the quality of CG. The results of our regression model also support the idea that CG is effective in reducing agency costs for chaebol firms but not for non-chaebol firms. Finally, our findings suggest that the implementation of effective CG mechanisms in firms might improve managerial behavior through better decision-making to maximize the value of firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private equity (PE) funds are increasingly important to the economy and now serve as the primary vehicle for raising new capital. However, a limited understanding of the unique PE fund setting among accounting academics inhibits accounting research in this area. In this paper, we first describe the PE fund setting and explain how fundamental differences between PE and previously studied settings make it difficult to infer PE fund behavior from research performed using other settings. We then discuss how PE funds provide researchers with the ability to explore fundamental questions related to agency costs, governance, compensation, disclosure, and fair value accounting. Finally, we provide guidance on PE data sources available for use in future research. Because of the volume of economic activity currently funneled through PE and the unique aspects of the PE setting, it is important for researchers to explore when, why, and how accounting matters for PE funds. Data Availability: Data used in this study are available from the public sources identified in the text. JEL Classifications: G1; G14; G30; M4; M41. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In advanced jurisdictions, the choice of a non‐consensual debt restructuring is between a public or a private gatekeeper model where either the court or the licensed insolvency professional respectively approves a restructuring plan that binds dissenting creditors. In the United States, the only gateway is found in Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code 1978, which requires court approval and gives the debtor a significant say in the outcome. In contrast, in the United Kingdom, there exist four gateways, only two of which require court approval (scheme of arrangement and restructuring plan), while the remaining two (administration and company voluntary arrangement) give significant powers to the insolvency practitioner to decide on the outcome. In emerging jurisdictions such as Mainland China and India, due to path dependency and lack of institutional capacity, the court‐supervised model is chosen as the only or primary gateway to legitimise non‐consensual restructurings though the insolvency practitioner has an important statutory role. Using the two jurisdictions as case studies, this article argues that such a choice has several initial benefits but also leads to several problems, including delays in the restructuring, does not necessarily improve substantive outcomes and does not adequately address the shareholder–creditor and creditor–creditor agency costs. This article proposes that for debt restructuring that involves the sale of the business as a going concern, the private gatekeeper should be able to decide on the sale and the distributions following pre‐bankruptcy entitlements. Recourse to the court as a public gatekeeper should only be used for reorganisation proceedings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether CEOs' early adverse experience could explain cross‐sectional heterogeneity in the financialization of non‐financial firms. We utilize whether the CEO lived through the Great Chinese Famine as a proxy for the adverse experience. We find that non‐financial firms led by CEOs with such experience are significantly less likely to be involved in financialized activities than those led by CEOs without such experience. Experienced CEOs are prone to develop conservative preference for the short‐term financial assets over long‐term ones. The famine effect is more pronounced in enterprises with less competitive industries, less ownership of controlling shareholders, and non‐Big 4 audit firms. Furthermore, channel tests demonstrate that the famine experience reduces CEO overconfidence and lowers the agency cost of their firms, resulting in a lower financialization level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Appointing individuals drawn from suppliers and customers to a firm's board of directors is an increasingly popular practice that can enhance the interorganizational relationship and generate relational rents. Yet, such board members may act in the best interest of their primary employer rather than the shareholders of the firm whose board they serve on, thus creating potential agency conflicts. Drawing on the relational view and agency theory, we explore the tension between rent generation and agency costs and consider how a firm can design governance mechanisms to effectively leverage customer or supplier representation on the board of directors. The associated hypotheses are tested using a large panel dataset constructed from multiple archival sources, and our findings suggest that supplier and customer board members are a double‐edged sword: While they generate value in some instances, they can also be associated with lower performance depending on the levels of two key governance mechanisms—the number of inside directors on the board and the proportion of outcome‐based board member compensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether corporate political donations (CPDs) are associated with audit fees in the Australian setting. Our baseline results based on observations of Australian top 500 non‐financial companies show that, on average, firms with CPDs are associated with about 9% lower audit fees than firms without CPDs consistent with the strategic investment or resource dependency view. Using path analysis, we next show that high earnings quality resulting from strategic benefits of CPDs explains the association. Overall, these results confirm that firms use CPDs as strategic investments that are associated with lower earnings management, which leads to lower audit risk and hence reduced audit fees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper examines contingent liabilities' effect on the firm's dividend decisions. Design/methodology/approach: Fixed-effects regression and logit model results estimate the influence of contingent liabilities on firms' dividend decisions using a sample of 2,288 firm-year observations of S&P 500 firms from 2012 until 2022. Robustness checks and results from the 2SLS model further support the authors' findings. Findings: The results show that contingent liabilities negatively affect dividend payment decisions. This analysis further demonstrates that the stated effect of contingent liabilities on dividend decisions is more substantial for firms with financing deficits and those with above-industry-average corporate governance scores. Research limitations/implications: There needs to be more systematic conceptual reason for measuring uncertainty for firms and its influence on dividend decisions. Future research should use other measures of firm uncertainty to examine the relation of the firm's uncertainty with dividend decisions. Practical implications: The authors suggest that contingent liabilities create uncertainty for future cash flows, influence a firm's agency costs and provide credible signals on a firm's prospects to the market. The findings support existing literature that measurable firm-specific variables significantly influence a firm's dividend decisions. The results are robust for an alternative explanation. Originality/value: By investigating the impact of the influence of contingent liabilities on dividends, the authors extend research on dividend decisions and attempt to provide insights into a firm's dividend decisions by incorporating an off-the-balance sheet item (contingent liabilities) as a significant predictor for dividend decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bridge components are subject to both structural loads and environmental stressors, rendering them susceptible to accelerated deterioration and potential collapse in the absence of effective maintenance and rehabilitation strategies. Moreover, the phenomenon of wet-dry cycling, coupled with elevated chloride concentrations prevalent in coastal regions, further expedites the degradation process of bridges, thereby escalating maintenance frequency and repair costs. In response to this challenge, the integration of innovative materials such as Ultra High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) is being explored for the development and implementation of maintenance and rehabilitation strategies. This study presents a comparative analysis between conventional methods and UHPC applications for bridge repairs, utilizing Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) to encompass both agency and user costs, and applies Monte Carlo simulation to account for the variability of the modeling factors. A practical case study illustrates the applicability of the LCCA methodology, revealing that the utilization of UHPC contributes to a reduction in the total life cycle cost for bridge maintenance and rehabilitation. Life expectancy, Average Daily Traffic (ADT), and the duration of construction activities during rehabilitation emerge as the most influential factors affecting life cycle costs. The main contributions of the study are the development of the life-expectancy model and step-by-step Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) methodology. Findings from this study aim to identify cost-effective retrofitting techniques for maintaining bridges in a "State of Good Repair." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to exploit Tobin's Q model of investment to examine the relationship between corporate governance and green innovation. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a sample of 3,896 firms from 2002 to 2021, covering 45 countries worldwide. The authors adopt Tobin's Q model to conceptualize the relationship between corporate governance and investment in green research and development (R&D). The authors argue that agency costs and financial market frictions affect corporate investment and are fundamental factors in R&D activities. By limiting agency conflicts, effective governance favors efficiency, facilitates access to external financing and encourages green innovation. The authors analyzed the causal effect by using the system-generalized method of moments (system-GMM). Findings: The results reveal that the better the corporate governance, the more the firm invests in green R&D. A 1%-point increase in the corporate governance ratings leads to an increase in green R&D expenses to the total asset ratio of about 0.77 percentage points. In addition, an increase in the score of each dimension (strategy, management and shareholder) of corporate governance results in an increase in the probability of green product innovation. Finally, green innovation is positively related to firm environmental performance, including emission reduction and resource use efficiency. Practical implications: The findings provide implications to support managers and policymakers on how to improve sustainability through corporate governance. Governance mechanisms will help resolve agency problems and, in turn, encourage green innovation. Social implications: Understanding the impact of corporate governance on green innovation may help firms combat climate change, a crucial societal concern. The present study helps achieve one of the precious UN's sustainable development goals: Goal 13 on climate action. Originality/value: This study goes beyond previous research by adopting Tobin's Q model to examine the relationship between corporate governance and green R&D investment. Overall, the results suggest that effective corporate governance is necessary for environmental efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking Chinese non-financial A-share companies listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) between 2003 and 2018 as a sample, this paper empirically examines whether and how institutional investors' site visits (SVs) affect corporate investment-cash flow sensitivity (ICFS). The results show that institutional investors' SVs can reduce ICFS, and this effect is more obvious for companies with fewer investment opportunities, larger sizes, higher internal cash flows, and higher agency costs, indicating that institutional investors' SVs primarily inhibit ICFS caused by agency conflicts rather than financing constraints. In addition, the inhibitory effect of institutional investors' SVs on ICFS exists mainly in companies with poor internal supervision governance and weak executive compensation incentive mechanisms, indicating that institutional investors' SVs and other forms of corporate governance mechanisms operate as substitutes in reducing ICFS. This paper reveals the important role of institutional investors' SVs in reducing ICFS, with important theoretical and practical implications for regulators to progressively regulate and promote this form of investor activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transformation has emerged as a powerful force in reshaping the business landscape and enabling organizations to enhance their capabilities. One critical aspect of this change is how it impacts an enterprise’s innovation ability. To explore this question, we select data regarding China’s A-share listed enterprises from 2007 to 2021 as the research sample. We employ crawler technology to gather keywords related to “digital transformation” from annual reports, portraying detailed journeys of enterprises’ digital transformation. Through descriptive statistics and multiple covariance tests, a linear relationship is established between digital transformation and innovation ability. Benchmark regression is conducted and a robustness test is utilized to determine the robustness of the benchmark regression. The mechanism, heterogeneity, and moderating effects of this study are also tested. The results reveal that digital transformation makes a significant positive contribution to the innovation capability of enterprises. Meanwhile, among different types of enterprises, the impact of digital transformation on enterprise innovation capability shows heterogeneity. In terms of the impact mechanism, digital transformation can enhance the innovation output of enterprises by reducing the agency cost and improving the risk-taking level of enterprises, so as to further improve the innovation capability of enterprises. The research results of this paper provide essential theoretical support for the digital transformation of enterprises and the government’s formulation of enterprises’ digitalization strategies. More profoundly, it provides significant reference for how to further promote the digital transformation of Chinese enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bilateral Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is a kind of BRT system in which the stops are located in the middle of the transit lane. By simultaneously serving transit lines in opposite directions, it is particularly designed to save space resources and enhance service quality. To improve the operational efficiency of the bilateral BRT, this paper optimizes the operational performance of bilateral BRT with elastic demand. The objective is to minimize the generalized time cost per passenger of the system by jointly optimizing the headway and number of stops of bilateral BRT. The cost includes the agency operating and user travel. The optimal design model is formulated as a mixed-integer program and solved using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and a genetic algorithm (GA). We conduct a case study and sensitivity analysis to show the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed approach. We conclude that the optimized minimum generalized cost per passenger is lower than the actual case for all demand levels, especially at off-peak hours, by about 22.5%. In addition, we find that the weights of agency and user costs have the most significant impact on headway, whereas the influence of walking, vehicle speed, and route length is minimal. In contrast, the optimal number of BRT stops is mostly influenced by the route length, and walking speed has essentially no effect on the optimal number of stops. Finally, we find that the generalized cost per passenger at peak hours is 10% to 15% smaller than at off-peak hours in various scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability of pavement, especially in Maintenance and Rehabilitation (M&R) scheduling, has become an immense concern and has received limited attention in previous studies. Therefore, this study aimed to develop the M&R scheduling optimization based on sustainability. To this end, a novel sustainability index was introduced, in which all the sustainable development aspects were considered, including highway agency cost, environmental impacts, and social effects. A conventional model was used to assess the sustainable model's effectiveness. Two new constraints are introduced to reduce the budget fluctuation and not to apply the M&R treatments for two consecutive years to make the model practical. On the other hand, highway agencies face large-scale networks, in which the optimization of M&R scheduling has computational complexities. Thus, the novel and powerful metaheuristic algorithm, named Marine Predator Algorithm (MPA), was applied to solve the pavement M&R scheduling problem. A large-scale pavement network, including 110 sections, was analyzed over a 5-year plan as the case study. The results indicated that using the sustainable model rather than the conventional one leads to a 6.5% reduction in CO2 emission. Besides, utilizing the sustainable approach enhances the equity and safety indices by 40.7% and 2.5% compared to the conventional treatment. However, the highway agency cost is increased by 1.1% using the sustainable model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Interest rate derivatives (IRDs) are the essential components of financial risk management and are used across various industry sectors. The objective is to analyze the differences in approach to managing interest rate risks between the Indian corporates that execute IRDs and the ones that do not. Design/methodology/approach: Interest rate fluctuations require Indian corporates to hedge their exposures in foreign currency interest rates. This is all the more true for mid-sized corporates because of their balance sheet exposures. Additionally, they may not have the resources to formulate risk management policies. This paper analyzes data collected from financial statements of a diverse set of companies that use IRD and helps in formulating such a strategy. Findings: The results indicate significant differences for some of the parameters like information asymmetry and agency cost between users and non-users of IRDs. The study further suggests causality between users of derivatives and parameters like size, growth and debt. Research limitations/implications: The study compares users and non-users of IRDs, thereby identifying factors unique to users of IRDs. It also studies causality relations which explain the motivation to do IRDs. Thus, it enables risk managers to use this as a reference point to decide on their strategies. Originality/value: While there are multiple studies across geographies and sectors including commercial banks in India on the usage of interest rate swaps, this study focuses on Indian mid-tier corporates. Furthermore, the study distinguishes between users and non-users based on financial parameters, which in turn would provide a framework for decision-hedging strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We endogenize the R&D financial structure and investigate the effects of tax policy (dividend, corporate, and bond income taxes). Agency costs exist between the supply of and demand for funding, which enable the financial market to reshuffle loanable funds out of less productive firms toward others with greater productivity. We show that the financial structure-growth relationship is not monotonic, depending on the relative productivity between the existing and new firms and the allocation of loanable funds between them. The allocation of loanable funds, rather than their market amount, plays a key role in determining the effects of policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the notion of electronic economics by examining financial technology (fintech) firms' performance and corporate governance quality, using data from the United States. The findings support our maintained assumption that due to the economics of electronic platforms perused by financial technology firms, these firms outperform firms from other industries (non-Fintech). The final sample comprises 1,712 company-year observations between 2010 and 2019 (pre-COVID-19). The evidence suggests that our corporate governance quality index, developed from Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (www.oecd.org/corporate/corporate-governance-factbook.htm, 2019) guidelines, accurately captures corporate governance quality in the United States, principally due to the inclusion of an anti-bribery policy indicator, in the index. The results suggest that this evidence is not merely an artefact due to the corporate governance quality index potentially capturing priced risk factors. Our findings reveal that fintech firms have superior corporate governance quality than non-fintech and that fintech firms place more reliance on internal versus external corporate governance mechanisms, vis-a-vis companies in other industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines corporate social responsibility (CSR) and advertising as two firm visibility channels and tests their complementarity/substitution. The study extends the investigation with moderating variables, including board gender diversity, CSR committees, and financial slack. Using a sample that includes 53,835 firm‐year observations worldwide associated with 10 business sectors from 2007 to 2019, we find that CSR performance is negatively associated with advertising; this holds for the aggregate CSR score as well as for environmental and social pillars but not for the governance pillar. This implies that two visibility channels—namely CSR and advertising—are substitutes except for the governance dimension. Furthermore, female directors do not advocate for the two visibility channels but instead are proponents of one, in line with the agency cost approach. However, CSR committees fully promote two communication channels supported by the composite and three individual pillars of CSR. Finally, financial slack matters in utilizing two publicity channels concurrently. The findings show that several contingencies must be taken into account to improve companies' visibility while avoiding exacerbating agency costs for better business management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the informational properties of earnings that compensation contracting requires for performance measurement. While conditional conservatism could be desirable because it can help to alleviate agency conflicts, its downside relates to the trade-off between conservatism and other important properties, such as persistence. We infer boards' performance measurement preferences from a novel dataset of earnings realizations used to calculate executive bonus payouts (which we label compensation earnings), which can be either GAAP or non-GAAP. On average, compensation earnings do not exhibit any conditional conservatism in the full sample. The lack of conservatism holds even in subsamples with strong corporate governance and subsamples with high ex ante agency costs, suggesting optimal contract design rather than opportunism. Finally, our analyses indicate that compensation earnings are more persistent and informative than GAAP earnings. Overall our results suggest that boards trade off conservatism for other properties in measuring performance for executive compensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reputational risk and investment efficiency. We provide evidence that ESG reputational risk relates to higher corporate suboptimal investment (underinvestment) and a lower speed of adjustment back to the optimal investment level. Our findings hold for parametric and nonparametric estimations of underinvestment and are robust to several techniques that address endogeneity and self‐selection. Overall, our study highlights the important role of ESG reputational risk in determining corporate investment efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I examine the effect of relative performance evaluation (RPE) on firm performance and risk-taking behavior. Agency theory suggests that, for firms that experience common shocks, RPE in executive compensation plans improves risk sharing and strengthens incentive alignment by providing more information about managerial effort than firm performance alone. In practice (i.e., in the presence of a finite number of peers), RPE effectiveness depends on the extent of firms' common risk exposure and the amount of common risk captured by RPE peers. I develop a simple model that predicts that the benefit of using RPE exceeds the cost of adding noise from peers when the amount of common risk removed is large. Consistent with predictions, I find empirically that RPE firms perform better than similar non-RPE firms when there is high common risk exposure and the common risk removed by the selected peers is high. I also find that, in these circumstances, the use of RPE is associated with greater firm risk and a lower likelihood of underinvesting. Overall, my study provides evidence that RPE is associated with better risk sharing and stronger incentive alignment when (1) RPE firms are exposed to high common risk and (2) RPE peers are effective in removing common risk for performance evaluation. This paper was accepted by Brian Bushee, accounting. Funding: F. M. Tice gratefully acknowledges financial support from Texas A&M University and the University of Colorado Boulder. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4764. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Digital transformation has emerged as a powerful force in reshaping the business landscape and enabling organizations to enhance their capabilities. One critical aspect of this change is how it impacts an enterprise’s innovation ability. To explore this question, we select data regarding China’s A-share listed enterprises from 2007 to 2021 as the research sample. We employ crawler technology to gather keywords related to “digital transformation” from annual reports, portraying detailed journeys of enterprises’ digital transformation. Through descriptive statistics and multiple covariance tests, a linear relationship is established between digital transformation and innovation ability. Benchmark regression is conducted and a robustness test is utilized to determine the robustness of the benchmark regression. The mechanism, heterogeneity, and moderating effects of this study are also tested. The results reveal that digital transformation makes a significant positive contribution to the innovation capability of enterprises. Meanwhile, among different types of enterprises, the impact of digital transformation on enterprise innovation capability shows heterogeneity. In terms of the impact mechanism, digital transformation can enhance the innovation output of enterprises by reducing the agency cost and improving the risk-taking level of enterprises, so as to further improve the innovation capability of enterprises. The research results of this paper provide essential theoretical support for the digital transformation of enterprises and the government’s formulation of enterprises’ digitalization strategies. More profoundly, it provides significant reference for how to further promote the digital transformation of Chinese enterprises.

I use an accounting reform to assess the agency cost of debt in diversified firms. Those firms that switch from single to multiple segments following the reform suffer a 12% increase in their bond spread when compared with their stand-alone peers. Consistent with lenders anticipating underinvestment and asset-substitution incentives, diversified firms with high cash-flow volatility across divisions suffer the highest increase in borrowing costs. I employ a novel approach that allows abstracting from unobservable characteristics that would otherwise influence the pricing of diversified firms' debt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop an endogenous growth model with public consumption and infrastructure services provided by two-tier governments. Growth performance and welfare implication are compared under the centralized and decentralized fiscal federal systems. In general, there is a trade-off between welfare and growth due to conflicts of interest and asymmetric information between central and local governments. By numerical simulations, we show that the optimal fiscal federalism should impose restrictions on expenditure−GDP ratio, rather than on expenditure−budget ratio or central−local expenditure ratio, because expenditure−GDP ratio can align the incentives of the two-tier governments. Furthermore, it is suggested that decentralized fiscal systems are generally superior to the centralized system because the efficiency loss overweighs the agency cost. The model is then applied to analyzing different growth experiences in the West and China by institutional and cultural differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure is an important way for firms to achieve social goals. As stakeholders pay more attention to CSR performance, the CSR report strategy has attracted academic attention. Prior studies have stressed the important role of positive CSR disclosure strategies in a firm's reputation and market value, but our study shows different findings. Using a sample of China's A‐share listed firms from 2008 to 2019, we find a significant negative correlation between administrative penalties and the use of pictures and tables in CSR reports, which is more significant for firms being penalized rather than individuals in firms. Investor attention and agency costs provide a mechanism explanation. Heterogeneity analysis shows that in regions with a low level of legal institutions, the effects of administrative penalties on the use of pictures and tables in CSR reports are more significant. Nevertheless, the seemingly negative disclosure strategy ultimately contributes to corporate value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction / objective: In organisations, conflicts of interest give rise to agency costs aimed at mitigating agent opportunism. High-quality accounting information reduces these conflicts by minimising information asymmetry. Consequently, this study aims to investigate the relationship between agency costs and conditional conservatism in Brazilian electric power industry companies listed on the B3. Methodology: Data from 21 Brazilian electric power industry companies for the period 2012 to 2020 were utilised. Twenty-four attributes associated with agency costs were analysed, and Ball and Shivakumar’s (2005) conditional conservatism model was employed as a measure of accounting information quality. Panel data regression models were used to obtain the results. Results: According to the central conditional conservatism model, companies tend to exhibit optimism rather than conservatism, anticipating gains instead of losses. Results, assessed across five dimensions, revealed that factors such as board composition, variable compensation, and agreements with shareholders reduce optimism, while qualified audits, longer tenures, and the presence of a permanent audit committee increase optimism. Therefore, attributes that influence optimism, accounting information neutrality, and consequently, financial reporting quality, are identified. Conclusions: This study benefits various users of accounting information. Investors can pinpoint governance policies that align interests, regulators can enhance oversight, and organisation members can adopt policies that encourage the alignment of interests between principals and agents. RESUMEN Introducción / objetivo: en las organizaciones los conflictos de intereses generan costos de agencia para mitigar el oportunismo de los agentes. La información contable de alta calidad reduce estos conflictos al minimizar la asimetría de la información. Por tanto, este estudio tiene como objetivo investigar la relación entre los costos de agencia y el conservadurismo condicional en empresas brasileñas del sector eléctrico listadas en la B3. Metodología: se utilizaron datos de 21 empresas del sector eléctrico brasileño para el período de 2012 a 2020. Se analizaron 24 atributos asociados con los costos de agencia, y el modelo de conservadurismo condicional de Ball y Shivakumar (2005) se empleó como medida de calidad de la información contable. Los resultados se obtuvieron mediante modelos de regresión de datos en panel. Resultados: según el modelo central de conservadurismo condicional, las empresas tienden a ser optimistas en lugar de conservadoras, anticipando ganancias en lugar de pérdidas. Los resultados, evaluados en cinco dimensiones, revelaron que factores como la composición del consejo, la compensación variable y los acuerdos con accionistas reducen el optimismo, mientras que las auditorías con salvedades, los plazos más largos y la existencia de un comité de auditoría permanente aumentan el optimismo. Por tanto, se identifican atributos que influyen en el optimismo, la neutralidad de la información contable y, en consecuencia, la calidad de los informes financieros. Conclusiones: este estudio beneficia a varios usuarios de la información contable. Los inversores pueden identificar políticas de gobernanza que alineen intereses, los reguladores pueden mejorar la supervisión y los miembros de las organizaciones pueden adoptar políticas que fomenten la alineación de intereses entre los principales y los agentes.

Shadow banking has somewhat compensated for China's lack of formal financial development. However, it may also amplify the financial system's risks, which runs counter to the initial expectation of macroprudential management. With the regulation of shadow banking in China under the New Asset Management Regulation (NAMR), this paper investigates the impact of shadow banking regulation on the stock price synchronicity of China's A-share listed companies and its mechanism from 2013 to 2021. The mechanism test finds that shadow banking regulation can reduce stock price synchronicity by reducing firms' agency costs and improving information transparency. Our study enriches the related research on shadow banking regulation. It provides evidence on the microeconomic consequences of shadow banking from the perspective of stock price synchronicity for other developing countries and emerging economies.

We document that global board reforms are associated with a significant reduction in the underpricing of initial public offerings (IPOs). The effect is amplified for IPOs with greater agency problems and mitigated for IPOs certified by reputable intermediaries, IPOs with greater disclosure specificity, and IPOs in countries with better shareholder protection and stringent financial reporting regulations. Furthermore, global board reforms have led to an improvement in the long-term market performance, proceeds, and subscription level of IPOs and have enhanced board independence in the issuing firms. Our findings suggest that global board reforms have strengthened board oversight in the issuing firms, leading to less underpriced IPOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the notion that agency-driven information asymmetry may affect a firm's stock liquidity. I postulate that less uncertainty about managerial agency problems may enhance liquidity provision by lowering dealers' perceived adverse selection risk from trading with better-informed speculators. Consistent with my conjecture, I find that the staggered adoption of antitakeover provisions across U.S. states in the 1980s and 1990s — a plausibly exogenous shock unambiguously reducing the threat of (and speculators' information advantage about) value-enhancing intervention — robustly improves the stock liquidity of affected firms relative to peer firms, especially at prior high  fundamental or agency uncertainty and with poor governance. (JEL D22, G14, G34) Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix , which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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How corporate strategic disclosure affects investor evaluations is a crucial and widely discussed question. Although prior literature has spent efforts analyzing the information effect of strategic alliances on investor reactions, whether this effect can extend to the cost of equity capital still needs to be explored. Using data from China's A‐share listed firms from 2007 to 2021, we examine the impact of disclosing strategic collaborative agreements on equity capital costs. We find that disclosing strategic collaborative agreements relates to lower equity capital costs. These results hold after several robustness checks. The mechanism test reveals that announcing strategic collaborative agreements alleviates equity capital costs mainly through the information effect. Moreover, this effect is more salient in firms with lower agency costs, lower media coverage, positive media sentiment, and higher media quality. These findings suggest that strategic collaborative agreements provide investors with valuable information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores whether a military connected board is an effective corporate governance mechanism, leading to sustainable corporate policies and outcomes. Appointing military‐experienced directors could be a firm's good and ethical business strategy if it positively influences firms' decision making process and eventually outcomes. Relying on over 6800 firm‐year observations over the period of 2000–2018 in the Thai stock market, we find military connected boards mis‐utilize firms' resources, representing a weakening governance mechanism―in line with agency cost theory. Specifically, firms with military officials on their boards are highly levered, keep low cash reserves, pay low dividends, but underinvest, and historically underperformed. However, we find a positive relationship between military connected boards and firm value, measured by Tobin's Q, representing potential future growth and supporting resource dependency hypothesis. Although backward‐looking analyses point toward irresponsible and unsustainable corporate policies which ultimately destroy corporate outcomes, forward‐looking evidence sees a good use of military connected board members in bidding on the government's projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the effects of political risk at the firm level on the integrity of financial reports between 2009 and 2019 using a data from U.S. firms. We provide evidence that, as evaluated by quarterly earnings conference call transcripts of companies with analysts that focus on political risk or uncertainty, political risk at the firm level is inversely related to the quality of accounting information. This effect is more likely to happen to firms with a higher agency problem, faster growth, and greater reliance on outside finance. The results persist after controlling macroeconomic variables. Our findings are also robust to alternative financial reporting quality criteria and endogeneity tests, and are economically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agency problem is corporate law's most enduring challenge: when corporate managers spend investors' money, how does the law protect investors from reckless management? Scholars of law, fnance, and accounting have suggested that in one corner of corporate law--corporate debt--a powerful tool exists to mitigate the agency problem. Specifcally, through loan covenants, lenders can force borrowers to comply with lenders' preferences, thereby mitigating the agency problem in lending. But loan covenants are disappearing. Over the last decade, loan covenants have become fewer and skinnier, and so called "covenant-lite" or "cov-lite" loans have become dominant. If loan covenants do such a good job of mitigating agency costs, why have lenders willingly parted with them? This Article attempts to unravel the puzzle of disappearing covenants, and makes three contributions to literatures in law, fnance, and accounting. First, using an original, hand-collected, and hand-coded dataset of 7,638 loan agreements spanning the last decade, this Article shows for the frst time that fnancial covenants--the focus of most existing research--are not the only covenants disappearing. Rather, governance covenants, such as those that might give lenders the right to engage with the borrower's board of directors, are also disappearing. This Article coins the term "gov-lite" to describe loans that have few governance covenants and shows, for the frst time, how prevalent gov-lite loans have become, even in ways that sometimes diverge from the covlite trend. Second, this Article draws from original interviews with lawyers working in corporate lending to explain the source and importance of this trend. This qualitative empirical evidence shows that regulation, the structure of the loan industry, and the rise of shadow banking have all contributed to the cov-lite and gov-lite trends. Finally, this Article explores the important theoretical and practical implications of the covlite and gov-lite trends. It discusses how the disappearance of covenants exacerbates the agency problem for lenders and shareholders, and how can stakeholders use covenants to advance social interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the moderating function of corporate governance (CG) to the relationship between leverage and firm value (FV) using Korean market data. The study employs ordinary least-squares panel data regressions and two methods to manage endogeneity problems. The findings show a meaningful negative relationship between leverage and FV. This relationship, however, disappears, when the interaction variable of leverage × CG is included in the econometric model. These results indicate that an effective CG mechanism may lessen the probability of either the entrenched management-decision-making behavior or the agency costs of debt and, therefore, the negative effect of debt to FV diminishes. Moreover, our data show that the relationship between leverage and FV becomes positive, even though insignificant, for firms with a high level of CG, whereas it stays significantly negative for firms with a low level of CG. We also find that leverage for firms with a high level of CG is lower than those firms with a low level of CG. These additional findings support our conclusion of the moderating role of CG, which also influences the firms' risk, leverage, and FV. The authors recommend the implementation of a robust CG plan to decrease the information asymmetry and the agency leverage problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We integrate behavioral agency research and the five‐factor model of personality to re‐visit investment analysts' efficacy as a mechanism for reducing agency costs. We highlight the role of personality in shaping how CEOs respond to analyst recommendations, leading to boundary conditions for the efficacy of analysts as external monitors. We theorize that the extent to which a CEO perceives a threat from more positive analyst recommendations is contingent upon their personality, which shapes their subjective interpretation of the recommendation and their use of income‐increasing earnings management in response. Our findings suggest that personality is critical to understanding how CEOs respond to external monitors and the agency costs associated with the positive analyst recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Based on the socio-emotional wealth and agency theories, this study empirically investigates the impact of family ownership and management on green innovation (GI) in family businesses, as well as the moderating effects of institutional environmental support factors, namely, the technological achievement marketisation index and the market-rule-of law index. Design/methodology/approach: This study empirically tests the hypotheses based on a sample of listed Chinese family companies with A-shares in 14 heavily polluting industries from 2009 to 2019. Findings: There is a U-shaped relationship between the percentage of family ownership and GI, and an inverted U-shaped relationship between the degree of family management and GI. Additionally, different institutional environmental support factors affect these relationships in different ways. As the technological achievement marketisation index increases, the U-shaped relationship between the percentage of family ownership and GI becomes steeper, while the inverted U-shaped relationship between the degree of family management and GI becomes smoother. The market rule-of-law index weakens the U-shaped relationship between family ownership and GI. Originality/value: First, the authors enrich the research on the driving factors of GI from the perspective of the most essential heterogeneity of family businesses. This study shows nonlinear and opposite effects of family ownership and management on GI in family firms. Second, this study contributes to the literature on family firm innovation. GI, not considered by researchers, is regarded as an important deficiency in research on innovation in family businesses. Therefore, this study fills that gap. Third, the study expands research on moderating effects in the literature on GI from the perspective of institutional environmental support factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research regards related party transactions (RPTs) and control-ownership divergence (wedge) as expropriation mechanisms manifesting severe agency conflict in emerging markets. Since corporate governance greatly influences firms' investments and strategic behavior, this study examines how different RPTs and the wedge affect cross-border acquisition (CBA) size and returns. In line with agency theory, opportunistic RPTs like loans/guarantees reduce CBA returns. However, operating RPTs are positively related to returns as the market seems to link these RPTs with benefits to firms. The CBA performance of wedge firms varies with RPT types. While loans/guarantees by wedge firms reduce returns due to combined tunneling incentives, operating RPTs impact returns positively, reflecting more economic benefits in wedge firms. The wedge or RPTs are also positively related to CBA size. But increased tunneling incentives restrain wedge firms that give loans/guarantees from large CBAs. Finally, family firms or large group affiliates that provide loans/guarantees or sustain the wedge reduce returns yet make larger CBAs. Overall, agency costs of expropriation mechanisms depend on RPT types and receive further impetus in family firms or group affiliates with extensive intra-group linkages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper has two main objectives: one, to investigate if inter-bank horizontal dispersion in the remuneration of executives has any significant influence on bank performance. And two, to explore various situations with respect to board quality, agency cost, and government ownership under which the dispersion-performance nexus is moderated. The paper employs a two-step system GMM of (Blundell and Bond, Journal of Econometrics 8:115–143, 1998) to account for the possible endogeneity issues, and Driscoll–Kraay's non-parametric matrix estimator to account for cross-sectional dependence. The findings show that horizontal pay dispersion has a negative influence on bank performance. It produces evidence in favor of the "equity fairness theory" that higher pay dispersion would incentivize them to engage in excessive risk-taking for maximizing their personal interests, which emerges to be detrimental to the bank's performance. Further evidence of moderating effect shows that in the presence of effective board oversight, pay dispersion exerts a favorable influence on the performance of Indian banking firms. The research has significant policy ramifications for regulators to apprehend the undesirable implications of pay dispersion on bank performance and initiate quick action to scrutinize the governance practices of higher-paying banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the association between board composition and the financial performance of the companies listed on the BSE-500 Index. The authors also analyse whether financial performance mediates the relation between board composition and executive compensation or not. The authors utilised a sample of 319 non-financial firms from the BSE-500 Index from 2010–11 to 2019–20. This time period was purposely chosen to eliminate the consequences of the 2007–2008 global financial crisis to reduce any uncertainty that may influence the company's financial performance. OLS regression techniques with firm fixed and time effects have been incorporated to test the hypotheses. To address the issues of reverse causation and endogeneity, regression models were employed with one-year lagged values for all predicted variables. In addition to OLS, the GMM technique is also used to validate the findings of the study. The findings show that financial performance fully mediates the link between board composition variables, except gender diversity, and executive compensation. These results suggest that a successful corporate governance system relies on the board's composition and how well it supervises its executives. Thus, the board may devise a fair compensation structure which is linked to financial performance to reduce managerial opportunism. This could help in aligning the interest of managers and shareholders, therefore lowering agency costs and boosting financial performance. Although executives are held accountable for the organisation's growth, sometimes they may act in their interest instead of the shareholders. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature on executive compensation and provides insights into reducing the opportunistic behaviour of managers through compensation design. In the pre-existing literature, limited studies are available that examine the direct or indirect effect of financial performance on the association between board composition and executive compensation among Indian companies. This study adds evidence to the literature on board composition of companies, financial performance, and executive compensation. This study is helpful for executives of the company and regulatory authorities while making decisions regarding board composition and executive compensation. This study encourages future researchers to conduct longitudinal studies with a larger sample and a longer time horizon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]