IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v49y2009i1p161-182.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate governance and chief executive officer dismissal following poor performance: Australian evidence

Author

Listed:
  • James Lau
  • Philip Sinnadurai
  • Sue Wright

Abstract

This paper investigates the association between corporate performance and the probability of chief executive officer (CEO) dismissal for large corporations in Australia. Consistent with prior US and UK studies, corporate performance is negatively related to the probability of CEO dismissal, using both accounting and market‐based performance measures. This paper also investigates whether key corporate governance characteristics affect the likelihood of CEO dismissal, by examining their effect on the strength of the negative association between corporate performance and CEO dismissal. The only significant variable is size of the board. Although its effect is opposite to that hypothesized, this paper provides a plausible explanation. Overall, the results are consistent with shareholder wealth considerations dominating board behaviour in Australia.

Suggested Citation

  • James Lau & Philip Sinnadurai & Sue Wright, 2009. "Corporate governance and chief executive officer dismissal following poor performance: Australian evidence," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 49(1), pages 161-182, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:49:y:2009:i:1:p:161-182
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-629X.2008.00278.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-629X.2008.00278.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-629X.2008.00278.x?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. Bushee, BJ & Noe, CF, 2000. "Corporate disclosure practices, institutional investors, and stock return volatility," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38, pages 171-202.
    2. Geoffrey C. Kiel & Gavin J. Nicholson, 2003. "Board Composition and Corporate Performance: how the Australian experience informs contrasting theories of corporate governance," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 189-205, July.
    3. Dechow, Patricia M. & Sloan, Richard G., 1991. "Executive incentives and the horizon problem : An empirical investigation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 51-89, March.
    4. 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.
    5. Zoltan Matolcsy & Donald Stokes & Anna Wright, 2004. "Do Independent Directors Add Value?," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 14(32), pages 33-40, March.
    6. Yermack, David, 1996. "Higher market valuation of companies with a small board of directors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 185-211, February.
    7. 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.
    8. Jayne Godfrey & Paul Mather & Alan Ramsay, 2003. "Earnings and Impression Management in Financial Reports: The Case of CEO Changes," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 39(1), pages 95-123, February.
    9. Garvey, Gerald T. & Swan, Peter L., 1994. "The economics of corporate governance: Beyond the Marshallian firm," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 139-174, August.
    10. Annita Florou, 2005. "Top Director Shake‐up: The Link between Chairman and CEO Dismissal in the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1‐2), pages 97-128, January.
    11. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    12. Peter Wells, 2002. "Earnings management surrounding CEO changes," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 42(2), pages 169-193, June.
    13. Fama, Eugene F, 1980. "Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 288-307, April.
    14. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "The Modern Industrial Revolution, Exit, and the Failure of Internal Control Systems," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 43-58, January.
    15. Denis, David J. & Denis, Diane K. & Sarin, Atulya, 1997. "Ownership structure and top executive turnover," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 193-221, August.
    16. Stulz, ReneM., 1988. "Managerial control of voting rights : Financing policies and the market for corporate control," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 25-54, January.
    17. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 1991. "The Effects of Board Composition and Direct Incentives on Firm Performance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 20(4), Winter.
    18. David Hillier & Scott C. Linn & Patrick McColgan, 2005. "Equity Issuance, CEO Turnover and Corporate Governance," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 11(4), pages 515-538, September.
    19. Taylor, Stephen & Whittred, Greg, 1998. "Security design and the allocation of voting rights: Evidence from the Australian IPO market," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 107-131, June.
    20. Warner, Jerold B. & Watts, Ross L. & Wruck, Karen H., 1988. "Stock prices and top management changes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 461-492, January.
    21. Annita Florou, 2005. "Top Director Shake-up: The Link between Chairman and CEO Dismissal in the UK," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1-2), pages 97-128.
    22. Weisbach, Michael S., 1988. "Outside directors and CEO turnover," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 431-460, January.
    23. Suchard, Jo-Ann & Singh, Manohar & Barr, Robert, 2001. "The market effects of CEO turnover in Australian firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 1-27, January.
    24. Jay Dahya & A. Alasdair Lonie & David M. Power, 1998. "Ownership Structure, Firm Performance and Top Executive Change: An Analysis of UK Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(9-10), pages 1089-1118.
    25. 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.
    26. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation," Scholarly Articles 29407535, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    27. John, Kose & Senbet, Lemma W., 1998. "Corporate governance and board effectiveness1," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 371-403, May.
    28. Goyal, Vidhan K. & Park, Chul W., 2002. "Board leadership structure and CEO turnover," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 49-66, January.
    29. Jay Dahya & John J. McConnell & Nickolaos G. Travlos, 2002. "The Cadbury Committee, Corporate Performance, and Top Management Turnover," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 461-483, February.
    30. Coughlan, Anne T. & Schmidt, Ronald M., 1985. "Executive compensation, management turnover, and firm performance : An empirical investigation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 43-66, April.
    31. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda, 1985. "Managerial ownership of voting rights : A study of public corporations with dual classes of common stock," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 33-69, March.
    32. Koh, Ping-Sheng, 2003. "On the association between institutional ownership and aggressive corporate earnings management in Australia," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 105-128.
    33. Pablo De Andres & Valentin Azofra & Felix Lopez, 2005. "Corporate Boards in OECD Countries: size, composition, functioning and effectiveness," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 197-210, March.
    34. Martin Conyon & Annita Florou, 2002. "Top executive dismissal, ownership and corporate performance," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 209-225.
    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. Richard Anthony Kent & Di Bu, 2020. "The importance of cash flow disclosure and cost of capital," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 877-908, April.
    2. Reza Zare & Hoda Kiafar & Fatemeh Rasouli & Leila Sadeghi & Sadegh Behbahani, 2013. "Examining Financial Leverage, Profitability and Firm Life Influencing Nonfinancial Information Disclosure Quality," Acta Universitatis Danubius. OEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 6(6), pages 163-175, December.
    3. Humphery-Jenner, Mark L. & Powell, Ronan G., 2011. "Firm size, takeover profitability, and the effectiveness of the market for corporate control: Does the absence of anti-takeover provisions make a difference?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 418-437, June.
    4. Husam Aldamen & Keith Duncan & Simone Kelly & Ray McNamara & Stephan Nagel, 2012. "Audit committee characteristics and firm performance during the global financial crisis," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 52(4), pages 971-1000, December.
    5. Pascal Nguyen & Nahid Rahman & Ruoyun Zhao, 2018. "CEO characteristics and firm valuation: a quantile regression analysis," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(1), pages 133-151, March.
    6. W Jane Cheung & Andrew B Jackson, 2013. "Chief Executive Officer departures and market uncertainty," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 38(2), pages 279-310, August.
    7. Dr. Sonia MOUSSA & Dr. Houssem RACHDI & Aymen AMMERI, 2013. "Governance, Managers’ Entrenchment and Performance: Evidence in French Firms Listed in SBF 120," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 3(2), pages 35-48, February.

    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. David Hillier & Patrick McColgan, 2008. "An analysis of majority owner‐managed companies in the UK," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(4), pages 603-623, December.
    2. Elisabeth Dedman, 2003. "Executive turnover in UK firms: the impact of Cadbury," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 33-50.
    3. David Hillier & Patrick McColgan, 2009. "Firm Performance and Managerial Succession in Family Managed Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3-4), pages 461-484.
    4. Paul André, 2009. "Discussion of Firm Performance and Managerial Succession in Family Managed Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3‐4), pages 485-495, April.
    5. Ji, Jiao & Talavera, Oleksandr & Yin, Shuxing, 2016. "CEO Dismissal, Compensation and Topics of Board Meetings: The Case of China," MPRA Paper 70232, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Renneboog, L.D.R. & Trojanowski, G., 2002. "The Managerial Labor Market and the Governance Role of Shareholder Control Structures in the UK," Discussion Paper 2002-68, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    7. ATM Adnan & Nisar Ahmed, 2019. "The Transformation Of The Corporate Governance Model: A Literature Review," Copernican Journal of Finance & Accounting, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika, vol. 8(3), pages 7-47.
    8. Chaiyasit Anuchitworawong, 2010. "The Value of Principles-Based Governance Practices and the Attenuation of Information Asymmetry," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 17(2), pages 171-207, June.
    9. Chen, I-Ju, 2014. "Financial crisis and the dynamics of corporate governance: Evidence from Taiwan's listed firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 3-28.
    10. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    11. Mertzanis, Charilaos & Basuony, Mohamed A.K. & Mohamed, Ehab K.A., 2019. "Social institutions, corporate governance and firm-performance in the MENA region," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 75-96.
    12. David Hillier & Patrick McColgan, 2009. "Firm Performance and Managerial Succession in Family Managed Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3‐4), pages 461-484, April.
    13. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2003. "Boards of directors as an endogenously determined institution: a survey of the economic literature," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 9(Apr), pages 7-26.
    14. Renee B. Adams & Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2010. "The Role of Boards of Directors in Corporate Governance: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 58-107, March.
    15. Al-Faryan, Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh, 2017. "The relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and the performance of Saudi listed firms," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 14(2-2), pages 338-349.
    16. Singh, Manohar & Davidson III, Wallace N., 2003. "Agency costs, ownership structure and corporate governance mechanisms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 793-816, May.
    17. Conyon, Martin J. & Florou, Annita, 2006. "The pattern of investment surrounding CEO retirements: UK evidence," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 299-319.
    18. Naeem Tabassum & Satwinder Singh, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Organisational Performance," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-48527-6, September.
    19. Salim Chahine & Assem Safieddine, 2011. "Is corporate governance different for the Lebanese banking system?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 15(2), pages 207-226, May.
    20. Aiyesha Dey, 2008. "Corporate Governance and Agency Conflicts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1143-1181, December.

    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:49:y:2009:i:1:p:161-182. 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.