Monitoring role of the board and ownership concentration: from interests misalignment to expropriation Online publication date: Wed, 27-Apr-2016
by Richard Bozec; Mohamed Dia
International Journal of Accounting and Finance (IJAF), Vol. 5, No. 4, 2015
Abstract: Despite all the value placed on the independent director by financial market participants and regulators, empirical evidence on the relation between board independence and firm performance is largely inconclusive. The objective of this paper is to revisit the board independence-performance relationship while taking into account the ownership structure of the firm. The study is conducted over a four-year period (2002-2005) using panel regressions on a sample of Canadian publicly traded companies (502 firm-year observations). The results show a positive and significant relationship between board independence and Tobin's Q only when ownership is concentrated in the hands of a controlling shareholder (legal control). The highest level of separation between voting and cash flow rights is also found in controlled entities. The greater the gap between voting and cash flow rights, the stronger the relationship between board independence and performance. Overall, evidence supports the expropriation effect argument.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Accounting and Finance (IJAF):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook