Corporate governance, companies’ disclosure practices, and market transparency : a cross country study

Beekes, Wendy Anne and Brown, Philip Ronald and Zhan, Wenwen and Zhang, Qiyu (2016) Corporate governance, companies’ disclosure practices, and market transparency : a cross country study. Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, 43 (3-4). pp. 263-297. ISSN 0306-686X

[thumbnail of BBZZ_CrossCountry_r2_20151217]
Preview
PDF (BBZZ_CrossCountry_r2_20151217)
BBZZ_CrossCountry_r2_20151217.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (348kB)

Abstract

We examine the link between corporate governance, companies’ disclosure practices and their equity market transparency in a study of more than 5,000 listed companies in 23 countries covering the period 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2008. Our results confirm the belief that better-governed firms make more frequent disclosures to the market. We also find greater disclosure in common law relative to code law countries. However firms with better governance in both code and common law countries make more frequent disclosures. We measure market transparency by the timeliness of prices. In contrast to single country studies, results show, for the 23 countries collectively, better corporate governance is associated with less timely share prices. This would suggest that a firm substitutes better corporate governance for transparency. We are thus led to the conclusion that even if information is disclosed more frequently by better-governed firms, it does not necessarily follow that information is reflected in share prices on a timelier basis.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Business Finance and Accounting
Additional Information:
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: BBeekes, W., Brown, P., Zhan, W. and Zhang, Q. (2016), Corporate Governance, Companies’ Disclosure Practices and Market Transparency: A Cross Country Study. Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, 43: 263–297. doi: 10.1111/jbfa.12174 which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbfa.12174/abstract This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2000/2003
Subjects:
?? corporate governancedisclosure practicesmarket transparencylegal origintimeliness of price discoveryfinancebusiness, management and accounting (miscellaneous)accounting ??
ID Code:
77066
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
14 Dec 2015 11:34
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
26 Sep 2024 00:41