Company characteristics and compliance with ASX corporate governance principles

Type of content
Journal Article
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
University of Canterbury. Department of Economics and Finance
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
2015
Authors
Lama, Tek
Anderson, Warwick
Abstract

Purpose: This study examines whether company characteristics determine the structure and composition of a company’s board. In particular, it investigates the three board-design choices that Australian listed companies make in the context of ASX corporate governance principles (published in 2003) where they are allowed to depart from the recommended best-practice board structure if the departure better serves their unique board and governance requirements. Design/Methodology: A logistic regression is performed on a cross-section of data, averaged over the years 2004 to 2007, for 258 ASX listed companies, employing the company variables of size, age, leverage, ownership concentration, profitability, liquidity, price-earnings ratio, market-to-book ratio and cross-listing. Findings: The study finds that size has a strong, statistically significant impact on all three principles. Ownership concentration, price-earnings ratio and age have statistically significant impacts on the likelihood of compliance with at least one principle, but have no consistent influence on the remaining principles. This finding supports the underlying philosophy of the ASX Corporate Governance Principles that flexible guidelines serve companies better than inflexible rules. Originality/Value: This study breaks new ground in empirically investigating the effect of company variables on compliance with the ASX’s Principles of 2003, which are new for Australia in requiring an ‘if not, why not’ response from companies.

Description
Citation
Lama, T., Anderson W.W. (2015) Company characteristics and compliance with ASX corporate governance principles. Pacific Accounting Review, 27(3), pp. 373-392.
Keywords
Board of directors, Compliance, Australian stock exchange, Company characteristics, corporate governance principles
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Field of Research::15 - Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services::1503 - Business and Management::150303 - Corporate Governance and Stakeholder Engagement
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