IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ausman/v45y2020i2p266-293.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Board structure and earnings persistence: The mediation effect of board processes

Author

Listed:
  • Dinithi Ranasinghe

    (Department of Accountancy and Finance, School of Business, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand)

  • Paul Mather
  • Suzanne Young

    (La Trobe Business School, College of Arts, Social Sciences and Commerce, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia)

Abstract

Prior research has overlooked board processes and examined direct links between board structure and monitoring financial reporting with mixed results. We use an input–process–output heuristic model to argue that board processes mediate the association between board structure and earnings persistence. Our results support this assertion by showing the mediating effect of board processes and the impact on managerial behaviour in relation to monitoring financial reporting. We contribute to the accounting and finance literature by demonstrating the importance of examining alternative theoretical models and board-process variables, along with structure. This article also highlights the importance of establishing best-practice guidelines around board processes in governance regulations. JEL Classification: M41, G34

Suggested Citation

  • Dinithi Ranasinghe & Paul Mather & Suzanne Young, 2020. "Board structure and earnings persistence: The mediation effect of board processes," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 45(2), pages 266-293, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:45:y:2020:i:2:p:266-293
    DOI: 10.1177/0312896219851553
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0312896219851553
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0312896219851553?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Agency Problems and Residual Claims," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 327-349, June.
    2. Lee, Lorraine & Petter, Stacie & Fayard, Dutch & Robinson, Shani, 2011. "On the use of partial least squares path modeling in accounting research," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 305-328.
    3. Richardson, Scott A. & Sloan, Richard G. & Soliman, Mark T. & Tuna, Irem, 2005. "Accrual reliability, earnings persistence and stock prices," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 437-485, September.
    4. Dechow, Patricia & Ge, Weili & Schrand, Catherine, 2010. "Understanding earnings quality: A review of the proxies, their determinants and their consequences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 344-401, December.
    5. Jonas Gabrielsson & Henrik Winlund, 2000. "Boards of directors in small and medium-sized industrial firms: examining the effects of the board's working style on board task performance," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 311-330, October.
    6. Fabio Zona & Alessandro Zattoni, 2007. "Beyond the Black Box of Demography: board processes and task effectiveness within Italian firms," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 852-864, September.
    7. David Wan & C. H. Ong, 2005. "Board Structure, Process and Performance: evidence from public‐listed companies in Singapore," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 277-290, March.
    8. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 291-309, November.
    9. Paul Mather & Alan Ramsay, 2006. "The Effects of Board Characteristics on Earnings Management around Australian CEO Changes," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(2), pages 78-93, December.
    10. Steven Petra, 2007. "The Effects of Corporate Governance on the Informativeness of Earnings," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 129-152, February.
    11. Jerry Goodstein & Kanak Gautam & Warren Boeker, 1994. "The effects of board size and diversity on strategic change," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(3), pages 241-250, March.
    12. Donald C. Hambrick & Axel v. Werder & Edward J. Zajac, 2008. "New Directions in Corporate Governance Research," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 381-385, June.
    13. Ryan Davidson & Jenny Goodwin‐Stewart & Pamela Kent, 2005. "Internal governance structures and earnings management," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 45(2), pages 241-267, July.
    14. Albie Brooks & Judy Oliver & Angelo Veljanovski, 2009. "The Role of the Independent Director: Evidence from a Survey of Independent Directors in Australia," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 19(3), pages 161-177, September.
    15. van Ees, Hans & van der Laan, Gerwin & Postma, Theo J.B.M., 2008. "Effective board behavior in The Netherlands," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 84-93, April.
    16. Rosalyn Oei & Alan Ramsay & Paul Mather, 2008. "Earnings persistence, accruals and managerial share ownership," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(3), pages 475-502, September.
    17. John A. Pearce & Shaker A. Zahra, 1992. "Board Composition From A Strategic Contingency Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 411-438, July.
    18. Dan Dhaliwal & Vic Naiker & Farshid Navissi, 2010. "The Association Between Accruals Quality and the Characteristics of Accounting Experts and Mix of Expertise on Audit Committees," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 787-827, September.
    19. Ahmed, Anwer S. & Duellman, Scott, 2007. "Accounting conservatism and board of director characteristics: An empirical analysis," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 411-437, July.
    20. Pamela Kent & James Routledge & Jenny Stewart, 2010. "Innate and discretionary accruals quality and corporate governance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 50(1), pages 171-195, March.
    21. Xie, Biao & Davidson, Wallace III & DaDalt, Peter J., 2003. "Earnings management and corporate governance: the role of the board and the audit committee," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 295-316, June.
    22. Ali, Murad & Park, Kichan, 2016. "The mediating role of an innovative culture in the relationship between absorptive capacity and technical and non-technical innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1669-1675.
    23. Paul Mather & Alan Ramsay, 2006. "The Effects of Board Characteristics on Earnings Management around Australian CEO Changes," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 19(2), pages 78-93, September.
    24. Philip Brown & Wendy Beekes & Peter Verhoeven, 2011. "Corporate governance, accounting and finance: A review," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(1), pages 96-172, March.
    25. Ken Y. Chen & Jian Zhou, 2007. "Audit Committee, Board Characteristics, and Auditor Switch Decisions by Andersen's Clients," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(4), pages 1085-1117, December.
    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. Rahman, Sheehan, 2023. "Narrative tone and earnings persistence," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).

    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. Nooraisah Katmon & Omar Al Farooque, 2017. "Exploring the Impact of Internal Corporate Governance on the Relation Between Disclosure Quality and Earnings Management in the UK Listed Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 345-367, May.
    2. Carl Åberg & Mariateresa Torchia, 2020. "Do boards of directors foster strategic change? A dynamic managerial capabilities perspective," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 24(3), pages 655-684, September.
    3. Hermes, Cornelis & Oxelheim, L. & Randoy, Trond & Hooghiemstra, Reginald, 2015. "The impact of board internationalization on earnings management," Research Report 15010-I&O, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    4. Hooghiemstra, Reggy & Hermes, Niels & Oxelheim, Lars & Randøy, Trond, 2019. "Strangers on the board: The impact of board internationalization on earnings management of Nordic firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 119-134.
    5. Masoud Azizkhani & Sarowar Hossain & Mai Nguyen, 2023. "Effects of audit committee chair characteristics on auditor choice, audit fee and audit quality," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 3675-3707, September.
    6. Ahsan Habib & Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan, 2016. "Problem directors on the audit committee and financial reporting quality," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 121-144, February.
    7. Ebenezer Agyemang Badu & K. O. Appiah, 2017. "Determinants of Board Monitoring Effectiveness in Anglo Countries in West Africa: An Empirical Investigation," Business, Management and Economics Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 3(9), pages 159-169, 09-2017.
    8. Wael Almaqoushi & Ronan Powell, 2021. "Audit committee quality indices, reporting quality and firm value," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1-2), pages 185-229, January.
    9. Lippert, Inge, 2008. "Perspektivenverschiebungen in der Corporate Governance: Neuere Ansätze und Studien der Corporate-Governance-Forschung," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Knowledge, Production Systems and Work SP III 2008-302, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    10. Emmanuel Mensah & Christopher Boachie, 2023. "Corporate governance mechanisms and earnings management: The moderating role of female directors," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 2167290-216, December.
    11. 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.
    12. Lonkani, Ravi, 2019. "Gender differences and managerial earnings forecast bias: Are female executives less overconfident than male executives?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 18-34.
    13. Mohamed Khalil & Aydin Ozkan, 2016. "Board Independence, Audit Quality and Earnings Management: Evidence from Egypt," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 15(1), pages 84-118, April.
    14. repec:mth:ijafr8:v:8:y:2018:i:4:p:438-456 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Zhi‐Yuan Feng & Hua‐Wei Huang, 2021. "Corporate governance and earnings management: A quantile regression approach," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5056-5072, October.
    16. Pamela Brandes & Ravi Dharwadkar & Jonathan F. Ross & Linna Shi, 2022. "Time is of the Essence!: Retired Independent Directors’ Contributions to Board Effectiveness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(3), pages 767-793, September.
    17. Mehdi Nekhili & Héla Chakroun & Tawhid Chtioui, 2018. "Women’s Leadership and Firm Performance: Family Versus Nonfamily Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 291-316, December.
    18. Åberg, Carl & Bankewitz, Max & Knockaert, Mirjam, 2019. "Service tasks of board of directors: A literature review and research agenda in an era of new governance practices," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 648-663.
    19. Ashfaque Banbhan & Xinsheng Cheng & Nizam Ud Din, 2018. "Financially Qualified Members in an Upper Echelon and Their Relationship with Corporate Sustainability: Evidence from an Emerging Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, December.
    20. Nguyen, Quynh & Kim, Maria H. & Ali, Searat, 2024. "Corporate governance and earnings management: Evidence from Vietnamese listed firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 775-801.
    21. Nicolas Vlaminck & Gerrit Sarens, 2015. "The relationship between audit committee characteristics and financial statement quality: evidence from Belgium," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(1), pages 145-166, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Board processes; cognitive conflict; earnings persistence; effort norms; knowledge and skills; mediation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    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:sae:ausman:v:45:y:2020:i:2:p:266-293. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.agsm.edu.au .

    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.