IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v54y2014i1p83-112.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Audit committee performance: ownership vs.independence – Did SOX get it wrong?

Author

Listed:
  • Brian Bolton

Abstract

type="main" xml:lang="en"> This study documents a positive relationship between audit committee stock ownership and firm performance in large US firms from 1998 to 2008. This study also finds a positive relationship between changes in ownership and performance. These results persist throughout the sample period, do not weaken after Sarbanes–Oxley and are robust to controlling for endogeneity between ownership and performance. After testing shows that there is no relationship between audit committee independence and firm performance, these findings suggest that audit committee stock ownership is an important corporate governance mechanism and potentially a more relevant variable than audit committee independence from a policy perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian Bolton, 2014. "Audit committee performance: ownership vs.independence – Did SOX get it wrong?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(1), pages 83-112, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:54:y:2014:i:1:p:83-112
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1467-629X.2012.00504.x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Klein, April, 2002. "Audit committee, board of director characteristics, and earnings management," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 375-400, August.
    2. Deborah S. Archambeault & F. Todd Dezoort & Dana R. Hermanson, 2008. "Audit Committee Incentive Compensation and Accounting Restatements," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 965-992, December.
    3. Barber, Brad M. & Lyon, John D., 1996. "Detecting abnormal operating performance: The empirical power and specification of test statistics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 359-399, July.
    4. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    5. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2002. "Market Timing and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 1-32, February.
    6. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation : An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 293-315, January.
    7. Paul Gompers & Joy Ishii & Andrew Metrick, 2003. "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 107-156.
    8. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation," Scholarly Articles 29407535, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    9. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    10. Anup Agrawal & Charles R. Knoeber, "undated". "Firm Performance and Mechanisms to Control Agency Problems between Managers and Shareholders (Revision of 29-94)," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 08-96, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
    11. Jinyong Hahn & Jerry Hausman, 2002. "A New Specification Test for the Validity of Instrumental Variables," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(1), pages 163-189, January.
    12. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    13. Wintoki, M. Babajide, 2007. "Corporate boards and regulation: The effect of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the exchange listing requirements on firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 229-250, June.
    14. Patricia M. Dechow & Richard G. Sloan & Amy P. Sweeney, 1996. "Causes and Consequences of Earnings Manipulation: An Analysis of Firms Subject to Enforcement Actions by the SEC," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 1-36, March.
    15. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2008. "Do directors perform for pay?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 154-171, September.
    16. Agrawal, Anup & Chadha, Sahiba, 2005. "Corporate Governance and Accounting Scandals," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(2), pages 371-406, October.
    17. Bhagat, Sanjai & Bolton, Brian, 2008. "Corporate governance and firm performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 257-273, June.
    18. Mark L. Defond & Rebecca N. Hann & Xuesong Hu, 2005. "Does the Market Value Financial Expertise on Audit Committees of Boards of Directors?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 153-193, May.
    19. Aloke Ghosh & Antonio Marra & Doocheol Moon, 2010. "Corporate Boards, Audit Committees, and Earnings Management: Pre‐ and Post‐SOX Evidence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(9‐10), pages 1145-1176, November.
    20. Anup Agrawal & Charles R. Knoeber, "undated". "Firm Performance and Mechanisms to Control Agency Problems between Managers and Shareholders (Revision of 29-94)," Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research Working Papers 8-96, Wharton School Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research.
    21. Palia, Darius, 2001. "The Endogeneity of Managerial Compensation in Firm Valuation: A Solution," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 735-764.
    22. Agrawal, Anup & Knoeber, Charles R., 1996. "Firm Performance and Mechanisms to Control Agency Problems between Managers and Shareholders," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(3), pages 377-397, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shivan Sarpal, 2017. "Analyzing Performance Implications of Selected Audit Committee Characteristics: A Study of Indian Corporate Sector," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 5(2), pages 137-150, July.
    2. Ionica Oncioiu & Anca-Gabriela Petrescu & Florentina-Raluca Bîlcan & Marius Petrescu & Melinda Timea Fülöp & Dan Ioan Topor, 2020. "The Influence of Corporate Governance Systems on a Company’s Market Value," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-15, April.
    3. Martina K. Linnenluecke & Jacqueline Birt & Xiaoyan Chen & Xin Ling & Tom Smith, 2017. "Accounting Research in Abacus, A&F, AAR, and AJM from 2008–2015: A Review and Research Agenda," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 53(2), pages 159-179, June.
    4. Eunice S. Khoo & Youngdeok Lim & Louise Y. Lu & Gary S. Monroe, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility performance and the reputational incentives of independent directors," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5-6), pages 841-881, May.
    5. Yuan George Shan & Indrit Troshani & Jimin Wang & Lu Zhang, 2023. "Managerial ownership and financial distress: evidence from the Chinese stock market," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(1), pages 192-221, May.
    6. Millicent Chang & Andrew B. Jackson & Marvin Wee, 2018. "A review of research on regulation changes in the Asia‐Pacific region," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(3), pages 635-667, September.
    7. Ahsan Habib & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan, 2016. "Overlapping Membership on Audit and Compensation Committees and Financial Reporting Quality," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 26(1), pages 76-90, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Louca, Christodoulos & Panayides, Photis M., 2014. "Corporate governance, financial management decisions and firm performance: Evidence from the maritime industry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 59-78.
    2. Chenglong Zheng & Roy Kouwenberg, 2019. "A Bibliometric Review of Global Research on Corporate Governance and Board Attributes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-25, June.
    3. James, Hui & Benson, Bradley W. & Wu, Chen (Ken), 2017. "Does CEO ownership affect payout policy? Evidence from using CEO scaled wealth-performance sensitivity," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 328-345.
    4. Yuan George Shan, 2019. "Managerial ownership, board independence and firm performance," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(2), pages 203-220, July.
    5. Chongwoo Choe & Gloria Tian & Xiangkang Yin, 2008. "Managerial Power, Stock-Based Compensation, And Firm Performance: Theory And Evidence," Monash Economics Working Papers 21/08, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    6. Amitava Roy, 2014. "Corporate Governance and Firm Performance: An Exploratory Analysis of Indian Listed Companies," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 3(1-2), pages 93-120, June.
    7. Benson, Bradley W. & Davidson III, Wallace N., 2009. "Reexamining the managerial ownership effect on firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 573-586, December.
    8. Jimmy A. Saravia, 2014. "Why has the literature on corporate governance and firm performance yielded mixed results?," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 10914, Universidad EAFIT.
    9. Naeem Tabassum & Satwinder Singh, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Organisational Performance," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-48527-6, January.
    10. Ammari, Aymen & Bouteska, Ahmed & Regaieg, Boutheina, 2016. "CEO Entrenchment and Performance: New Evidence Using Nonlinear Principal Component Analysis," MPRA Paper 75529, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Bill Francis & Iftekhar Hasan & Qiang Wu, 2015. "Professors in the Boardroom and Their Impact on Corporate Governance and Firm Performance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 44(3), pages 547-581, September.
    12. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Guay, Wayne R. & Weber, Joseph P., 2010. "The role of information and financial reporting in corporate governance and debt contracting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 179-234, December.
    13. Conheady, Brian & McIlkenny, Philip & Opong, Kwaku K. & Pignatel, Isabelle, 2015. "Board effectiveness and firm performance of Canadian listed firms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 290-303.
    14. Shkendije Himaj, 2014. "Corporate Governance in Banks and its Impact on Risk and Performance: Review of Literature on the Selected Governance Mechanisms," Journal of Central Banking Theory and Practice, Central bank of Montenegro, vol. 3(3), pages 53-85.
    15. Ricardo Pereira Câmara Leal & André L. Carvalhal & Ana Paula Iervolino, 2015. "One Decade of Evolution of Corporate Governance Practices in Brazil," Brazilian Review of Finance, Brazilian Society of Finance, vol. 13(1), pages 134-161.
    16. Sheeba Kapil & Rakesh K Mishra, 2019. "Corporate Governance structure and firm performance in Indian context: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach," Working Papers 1937, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
    17. Ivan Brick & N. Chidambaran, 2008. "Board monitoring, firm risk, and external regulation," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 87-116, February.
    18. Lin, Yongjia Rebecca & Fu, Xiaoqing Maggie, 2017. "Does institutional ownership influence firm performance? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 17-57.
    19. André Luiz Carvalhal da Silva & Ricardo Pereira Câmara Leal, 2005. "Corporate Governance Index, Firm Valuation and Performance in Brazil," Brazilian Review of Finance, Brazilian Society of Finance, vol. 3(1), pages 1-18.
    20. Cheung, Yan-Leung & Chung, Cheong-Wing & Tan, Weiqiang & Wang, Wenming, 2013. "Connected board of directors: A blessing or a curse?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3227-3242.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:54:y:2014:i:1:p:83-112. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.