Board leadership structure and earnings quality

Board Interlocks and Earnings Quality

We show that board interlocked firms' accounting practices as reflected in earnings quality are significantly correlated, and more so for audit committee interlocks. We also show that these associations arise after interlock formation and cease after interlock dissolution, consistent with the notion that information about accounting practices transfers between interlocked firms. It has been sai...

Board structure and the informativeness of earnings

This study draws on prior research on corporate governance and examines whether the informativeness of earnings, proxied by the earnings±returns relationship, varies with the fraction of outside directors serving on the board and board size. The results suggest that earnings of ®rms with the smallest boards in the sample (with a minimum of ®ve board members) are perceived as being more informat...

Board Interlocks and Earnings Management Contagion

We examine whether earnings management spreads from firm to firm via board connections. We find that contagion of accounting quality occurs via directors in interlocking boards with other firms. A firm with director links to firms that restated earnings tends to have poorer accounting quality and higher likelihood of restating its own financial reports. A firm with director links to firms that ...

Board Committees , CEO Compensation , and Earnings Management ∗

We analyze the effect of committee formation on how corporate boards perform two main functions: setting CEO pay and overseeing the financial reporting process. The use of performance-based pay schemes induces the CEO to manipulate earnings, which leads to an increased need for board oversight. If the whole board is responsible for both functions, it is inclined to provide the CEO with a compen...

Knowing, and Doing: Closing the Gaps in Board Leadership for Improvement of Quality and Safety.