The increase in the number of financial restatements in recent years has resulted in a significant decrease in the amount of market capitalization for restated companies. Prior literature does not differentiate between single and multiple restatements announcements. This research investigates the inter-relationships among multiple financial restatements, corporate governance, market microstructure and the firm's rate of return in the form of three essays by differentiating between single and multiple restatement announcement companies. First essay examines the stock performance of companies announcing the financial restatement multiple times. The postulation is that prior research overestimates the abnormal return by not separating single restatement companies from multiple restatement companies. This study investigates how market penalizes the companies that announce restatement more than once. Differentiating the restatement announcement data based on number of restatement announcements, the results support for non persistence hypothesis that the market has no memory and negative abnormal returns obtained after each of the restatement announcements are completely random. Second essay examines the multiple restatement announcements and its perceived resultant information asymmetry around the announcement day. This study examines the pattern of information asymmetry for these announcements in terms of whether the bid-ask spread widens around the announcement day. The empirical analysis supports the hypotheses that the spread does widen not only around the first restatement announcement day but around every subsequent announcement days as well. The third essay empirically examines the financial and corporate governance characteristics of single and multiple restatement announcements companies. The analysis shows that corporate governance variables influence the occurrence of multiple restatement announcements and can distinguish multiple restatements announcement companies from single restatement announcement companies.

As the title suggests, this thesis focuses on the issues arising from the establishment of audit committees in listed companies in China, which hitherto have been adopted by companies on a voluntary basis alongside the pre-existing structure of supervisory boards, rather than as a mandatory requirement. Regarding this unique practice in China, this thesis attempts to address three research objectives: 1. To understand the effectiveness of supervisory boards (SBs) and audit committees (ACs) in China. 2. To understand how the operations of SBs and ACs improve the effectiveness of supervisory governance functions in China. 3. To understand the co-ordination between SBs and ACs in organisations. The first objective is investigated by applying quantitative methods of ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and analysis of panel data. It is discovered that the companies with audit committees have more effective supervisory functions when companied to those without audit committees. The second objective was pursued by applying qualitative methods in the form of two case studies constructed using interviews and surveys conducted both via telephone and in face-to-face interviews. It is found that in both the case studies audit committees were established with the expectation of enhancing the effectiveness of the companies' supervisory functions. Furthermore, the face-to-face interview survey of five listed companies reveals that companies with audit committees in China still face issues of overlapping and missing supervisory functions between supervisory boards and audit committees. Thus the third research objective, regarding the co-ordination between the supervisory board and the audit committee in the organisation to find solutions to this very problem, is particularly relevant for corporate governance in China. This objective is investigated by interviewing two governors and conducting telephone surveys. The results highlight that there is the general expectation that these structures should be co-ordinated as one unit. There is also a demand to establish an independent control system to strengthen oversight functions, to reduce oversight costs, and to ensure the independence of the supervisors and audit committee members in order that they can execute oversight tasks, and to empower them against the executive directors and senior managers by promoting their status in the organisation.

D.Comm. / In commercial corporations shareholders, at least in theory, evaluate the performance of the boards they have appointed. Such evaluation is mainly based on the financial performance of the entity. Public (state funded) entities have only the state as shareholder and the performance of their boards is not evaluated by the taxpayers who ultimately pay the directors' fees. The term "public entity" refers to 20 corporations with an annual turnover in excess of R 55 billion which are substantially tax-funded or are awarded a market monopoly in terms of legislation by parliament. Although these public entities are regularly criticised by the press, the academic literature reports neither an assessment of the quality of governance by their non-executive directors' nor any instrument to use in such an assessment. The aim of this study was to measure the expectations and perceptions of executives in public entities about their non-executive boards' corporate governance service. This began with a literature was analysis, firstly to define what "proper" corporate governance and secondly to find a recognised methodology to use in the development of an assessment instrument. It was found that two main corporate governance models were generally recognised, namely the United Kingdom model and the German model. The United Kingdom model advocates a single board comprising both executive and non-executive directors while the German model has a supervisory board of non-executive directors overseeing the activities of an executive management board. It was further found that, contrary to King's (1994) recommendation to use unitary boards, the 20 listed public entities all had supervisory boards as advocated in the German model. A procedure advocated by Churchill (1979:65-72), in his paradigm for developing measures of marketing constructs, proved to be very successful in the development in the United States of America of an instrument named SERVQUAL which was applied in the general service arena where a paying client evaluated a service. Churchill's method was therefore used in this study to develop an instrument called ECGSI to measure the quality of governance of listed public entities' non-executive boards. The opinions of executives attending board meetings, e.g. to make presentations, were used both to develop ECGSI and to measure the quality of the non-executive directors' service.

M.Comm. / The normal pattern of life is birth, childhood, adulthood, old age and death. South Africa can still be seen in its childhood shoes in relation to countries like the USA, Japan and others. However, the playing field in the international arena that South Africa has to operate in when it comes to survival, is not divided between children and adults but instead, we are all competing on equal terms, and South African companies will have to realise that only the strong will survive. It is with this view in mind that this study has been undertaken in the hope that at completion South Africa will have its own management wave. South Africa is a country on its own with a history like no other country and a diversity like no other country. Therefore South Africa needs her own management wave, a wave out of South Africa for South Africa. The international competitive playing field is something new to South Africa and companies will have to adapt, or in years to come only a few of the current companies will have survived. To enable South African management to determine their own management a comparison of South Africa with her main competitors will be done, This will help to determine what is still needed in South Africa on the economical, political and educational fields and to help determine what South Africa need to survive for now and for the future. With this in mind it will be possible to start creating South Africa's own management wave which will enable companies, big and small, to still be part of South Africa in time to come, and to withstand the onslaught of overseas companies . South Africa is young, and has a very turbulent history, but with past happenings like: The Big Trek; The Boer Wars; The years of apartheid; The coming of democracy; it is clear that the South African people has got the will, stamina and strength to survive. South Africans now need to realise "EX UNITATE VIRES". It is with this in mind that the conclusion of this study will show South African companies, big and small, a new and unique management wave to follow. This new management wave will lead South Africa to a brighter future and a better tomorrow.

By integrating signaling research with an institutional perspective we examine how country of origin, corporate governance, and host market effects impact foreign IPO performance. Using a sample of 202 foreign IPOs listed in the U.S. or U.K in 2002-2007 results indicate both the legal environment surrounding these organizations in their countries of origin and board independence impact the success of foreign firms at IPO. However, the institutional environment of the chosen IPO market impacts the salience of country and corporate governance signals for foreign IPO firms suggesting a more contextualized framework of IPO valuation is necessary.

Corporate Governance and in particular, the role of the board of directors, have been placed at the centre of attention due to the recent well-publicized corporate scandals (Adams, Hermalin,&Weisbach, 2009). In South Africa, both the King II and recently published King III reports emphasise the importance of the board of directors, as being the crucial aspect of the South African corporate governance system (Institute of Directors, Southern Africa, 2002, 2009).The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between corporate governance and company performance. This was achieved by defining six specific characteristics of the board of directors in relation to corporate governance (independent variables of board independence, CEO-Chairman duality, staggered boards, board size and the presence and composition of the board remuneration committee), as well as identifying five company performance measures (dependent variables of net profit margin, return on equity, return on assets, share price and dividend payout).In reviewing the available literature, it was found that there is a lack of an appropriate and publicly available corporate governance measurement tool in South Africa. The Delphi technique was used to garner the views of four experts in the corporate governance field, in order to obtain their views as to what constitutes the research selected independent variables. The emergent themes from these interviews guided the measurement of these board variables and empirical testing against the selected company performance measures using the 21 Consumer Goods Companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with published financial statements over the time period commencing on 01 January 2006 and ending on 31 December 2010.The overall results of this study indicate that the vast majority of board selected variables relating to corporate governance had a positive relationship with company performance. Of the six independent variables selected for testing, board independence, board size and composition of the board remuneration committee were found to have statistically significant relationships with the dependent variables of company performance, while the presence of a board remuneration committee indicated a moderate relationship (with only return on assets and net profit margin indicating a significant relationship) and staggered boards revealed no statistical significant difference.The relationship between CEO-Chairman duality and company performance could not be assessed, due to the sector data set revealing only one instance in which this duality existed. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Purpose: The study aims to investigate whether female representation on corporate boards impacts company financial and non-financial performance. Existing studies show conflicting results regarding the impact that female representation on the boards of directors may have on financial and non-financial performance, namely social and environmental performance. Studies suggest that critical mass may influence the impact that a woman on the board may have on company performance. Existing studies have observed behavioural changes in female directors when there are three or more women on the board compared to when there are less than three women on the board. The study will explore the effects of critical mass on the impact of board female representation on firm performance. Furthermore, studies posit that singlecountry studies contribute to conflicting results due to the influence of country-level factors. Country-level factors (including cultural norms, gender parity in terms of educational attainment, economic employment and opportunity) may influence the level of impact that female representation on the boards of directors have on company performance. Thus, this study explores whether country-level factors influence the impact of board female representation on company performance. Design: Using a linear mixed regression, an analysis of female representation (as measured by the percentage of women on the board and critical mass) of the top 100 listed companies from Australia, Japan and South Africa between financial and nonfinancial performance during 2016 to 2018 is performed. Both accounting and market measures are used to determine a holistic measure of financial performance. Nonfinancial performance is measured using a social and environmental performance score. To determine the influence of country level factors, interaction terms are used to compare the level of impact that female representation on the boards of directors have on company performance between Australia, Japan and South Africa. In addition, an analysis of the mean female representation by country is conducted to understand the existing level of female representation per country. Findings: The descriptive statistics show that female representation was highest in Australia with an average of 29% over the three-year period; South Africa was at 22% and Japan at only 7%, demonstrating that each country in the study has varying levels of female representation on the boards of directors. The regression results show that female representation on boards of directors, as measured by the percentage of women on the board, is shown to have a positive and significant relationship with accounting performance, market performance and social performance. Critical mass of female representation on corporate boards is shown to positively and significantly influence financial performance but has little impact on non-financial performance. Conversely, country-level factors do not significantly influence the level of impact of female representation on performance measures. However, the descriptive statistics suggest that country-level factors are shown to influence the number of women on the boards of directors. Originality and Value: This study is relevant to shareholders and stakeholders when considering board composition and the value of gender diversity on corporate boards for both financial and non-financial performance. In addition, this study aids the understanding of the current status of female representation on boards of directors. The study adds to the existing body of research by exploring the influence of critical mass and country-level factors on the impact of board gender diversity on company performance. Lastly, the study is relevant to regulators and policy-makers as it highlights factors which contribute to increased female representation on corporate boards.

The world has witnessed a series of corporate accounting scandals. Earnings management, as a phenomenon at the core of these scandals, is one of the main challenges confronting the effectiveness of different monitoring mechanisms such as corporate governance. Recently, and more precisely after the financial crises of 2008 2009, Jordan has shown substantial interest in integrating the pillars of corporate governance. Therefore, this research examines the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on earnings management activities among all publicly listed commercial banks on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) during the period 2013-2018. Earnings management was measured by the modified Jones’ model. The characteristics examined are board size, CEO duality, board independence, managerial ownership, institutional ownership, audit committee size, audit committee independence and audit committee activity. In addition, two control variables have been used: firm size and firm performance. The findings of the study reveal that earnings management has a significant positive relationship with both board size and institutional ownership, and a significant negative relationship with total assets.

This study examines the relationships between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and four sub-dimensions of corporate governance structures (CGS) in a sample of 173 senior decision-makers representing companies in the South African oil and gas industry. The four attributes of CGS include: board effectiveness and competence, board knowledge and experience, board commitment and recognition of complexities and board involvement in decision-making processes. A series of Canonical correlation analyses assess the strength of relationships between the dimensions of EO and CGS at both univariate and multivariate levels. The results of this study support a positive significant relationship between EO dimensions namely, innovation, proactiveness and risk-taking; and the dimensions of CGS namely, board effectiveness and competence, board knowledge and experience, board commitment and recognition of complexities, and board involvement in decision-making processes. It also indicates a positive link between EO and CGS. The synthesis gleaned from this study is based on the expansive literature review on EO and CGS which provided an insight on the existing knowledge on the relevance of EO in organisational growth and CGS with respect to the nature of the boards, executives and decision-makers roles and responsibilities in strategic entrepreneurial activities within the organisation. This study is of practical use to organisations, enabling them to think and act entrepreneurially, and to policy makers to assist them to keep track of the regulatory guidelines, adopted by boards and executives in monitoring and implementing entrepreneurial culture in their respective organisations. Finally, to researchers and academics, this study allows an extension of knowledge to the EO and CGS and its applicability in one distinct industrial context.

This study examines the links between corporate governance, income smoothing, and informativeness in financial reporting. Firms’ strong corporate governance is measured by variables employed in other studies – the presence of a financial expert serving on the audit committee; whether the audit committee consists entirely of independent directors; whether the members of the audit committee meet at least four times annually; and the percentage of outsiders serving on the board of directors. Income smoothing is measured by the Albrecht-Richardson (AR) and Tucker-Zarowin (TZ) income smoothing measures. The AR measure encompasses four definitions of earnings that include accrual and cash-based transactions. The TZ measure includes only accrual-based transactions. The degree of informativeness is measured by association with two opposing ends of the spectrum. On the one hand, firms that are the most informative are predicted to have a greater association between earnings and one period ahead operating cash flows. Prior researchers have defined in a similar manner the information content of earnings to predict cash flows. On the other hand, the existence of a regulatory violation clearly indicates firms’ lack of informativeness (i.e., deceptiveness) in financial reporting. The results do not show a strong relationship between strong corporate governance and degree of income smoothing. First, results for the link between income smoothing and informativeness show only a strong, positive association between accrual-based income smoothing (i.e., TZ measure) and informativeness. Second, results for the links between deceptiveness, corporate governance, and income smoothing are weak. The corporate governance variables show no significant association with deceptiveness. A negative relationship between corporate governance and deceptiveness was predicted. For the link between income smoothing and deceptiveness, only the AR measures show the predicted negative relationship. The TZ measure shows no significant association with deceptiveness. Taken together, the results of this study provide unique insights into the links between corporate governance, income smoothing, and informativeness in financial reporting. The results confirm the informativeness of accrual accounting, but do not resolve the debate of whether corporate governance measures impact the quality of financial reporting.