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The magnitude and allocation of institutional athletic expenditures varies widely across NCAA divisions at the intercollegiate level. I illustrate the relationship between expenditures and institutional characteristics on overall athletic department success (i.e., Directors’ Cup scores) for NCAA Division I and Division III institutions. Specifically, using a fixed effects panel regression model I find that there is a small, positive relationship between total athletic expenditures and Directors’ Cup scores. I also show that time-varying institutional characteristics do not have a significant relationship with athletic performance. Further, my study supports the existence of a positive relationship between female athletic expenditures and Directors’ Cup scores, particularly for Division III institutions. These results provide valuable insights on the scale and distribution of resources associated with institutional achievement across genders and levels of competition in intercollegiate athletics.

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This thesis examines the development of the independent director system in China. The newly introduced independent director system is viewed as a revolutionary change to the Chinese corporate governance development. After analyzing the barriers in independent directors’ practice in China, this thesis gives some suggestions on how to improve the independent director system in China. Finally the thesis concludes that the independent director system will certainly become effective in China, but only if China’s policy makers can eventually solve the existing problems.

Whilst extensive research has been done on the association between corporate governance and firm performance, the empirical evidence is inconclusive. This thesis argues that the failure of past studies to establish a positive association between corporate governance and performance might be caused by the use of conservative accounting in firms. If firms with stronger corporate governance adopt more conservative accounting procedures, then tests of the relationship between corporate governance characteristics and performance will be biased downwards. If market participants fail to recognise a link between conservative accounting and corporate governance, then firms with stronger corporate governance might also be systematically undervalued. Therefore, studying the relationship between selected corporate governance attributes and the extent of conservative accounting does more than just extend our understanding of the link between governance characteristics and accounting quality. It also provides useful insights for interpreting the existing literature on the association between corporate governance and performance. In this thesis, detailed investigation is undertaken of the link between several governance characteristics (as well as an aggregate index) and the extent of conservatism evident in Australian firms?? financial reporting. Overall, the results provide only weak evidence that firms with certain governance characteristics report more conservatively. Evidence of any such link is restricted to measures of board composition and leadership, and even then the results are sensitive to the method used to measure the extent of conservatism in financial reporting. There is no systematic evidence of an association for measures of audit committee composition, nor board size. Finally, there is only weak evidence that use of a Big 5 auditor affects the extent of conservatism and the results are sensitive to the period investigated. These results are all robust to explicitly recognizing possible endogeneity between the extent of conservative accounting and the governance attributes examined. Overall, the results raise important questions about the extent to which widely advocated corporate governance attributes result in accounting outcomes which accelerate the revelation of relatively poor economic news, at least for Australian firms in the years examined (1998 and 2002). However, beyond the immediate relationship examined, the results also suggest that caution is appropriate before dismissing the absence of a link between governance attributes and firm performance as being attributable to accounting conservatism.

Thesis (LL. M.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-59).

Thesis (DBA)--Macquarie University, Graduate School of Management, 2008. / Bibliography: p. 275-289.

Thesis (J.C.L.)--Catholic University of America, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-67).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2007. / Title from title page screen (viewed on June 05, 2008). Thesis advisor: Melissa Hansen-Petrik. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1987. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Louis Forsdale. Dissertation Committee: Maxine Greene. Bibliography: leaves 58-61.