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Board changes and CEO turnover: The unanticipated effects of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act

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  • Dah, Mustafa A.
  • Frye, Melissa B.
  • Hurst, Matthew

Abstract

The board independence requirements enacted in conjunction with the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) provided motivation for firms that were already compliant with the regulations to alter their board structure. We consider actual board changes made by compliant firms and how such changes affect the monitoring efficiency of the boards. We find that the majority of compliant firms (approximately 56%) add independent directors following SOX. However, we find a nontrivial number of firms (approximately 26%) actually decrease the number of independent directors to move closer to the stated 50% requirement. For firms that decrease independence, the CEO turnover performance sensitivity significantly decreases following SOX. We also find that large board independence changes seem to be most detrimental to the monitoring function of the board. Our results highlight that SOX may have had unintended consequences.

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  • Dah, Mustafa A. & Frye, Melissa B. & Hurst, Matthew, 2014. "Board changes and CEO turnover: The unanticipated effects of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 97-108.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:41:y:2014:i:c:p:97-108
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2014.01.006
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    Cited by:

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    11. Luc Renneboog & Yang Zhao, 2020. "Director networks, turnover, and appointments," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 26(1), pages 44-76, January.
    12. Fan, Yaoyao & Jiang, Yuxiang & Kao, Mao-Feng & Liu, Frank Hong, 2020. "Board independence and firm value: A quasi-natural experiment using Taiwanese data," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 71-88.
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    15. Jiao Ji & Oleksandr Talavera & Shuxing Yin, 2020. "Frequencies of board meetings on various topics and corporate governance: evidence from China," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 69-110, January.
    16. James, Hui Liang & Wang, Hongxia & Xie, Yamin, 2018. "Busy directors and firm performance: Does firm location matter?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-37.
    17. Al Dah, Bilal, 2018. "Monitoring or empowering CEOs? The moderating effect of shareholder rights," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 502-515.
    18. Renneboog, Luc & Zhao, Yang, 2020. "Director networks, turnover, and appointments," Other publications TiSEM 3963badf-c66c-4002-b054-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    19. Tien Hoang Nguyen, & Xuan Minh Nguyen, & Thi Thu Ha Nguyen, & Quoc Trung Tran, 2017. "Ownership structure and performance of professional service firms in a declining industry: Evidence from Vietnamese securities firms," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center, vol. 13(2), pages 142-151, May.
    20. Jagannathan, Murali & Pritchard, A.C., 2017. "Do Delaware CEOs get fired?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 85-101.
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    23. Dah, Mustafa A., 2016. "Governance and firm value: The effect of a recession," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 464-476.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Boards of directors; CEO turnover; Sarbanes–Oxley Act;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

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