This survey provides a synthetic and evaluative survey of issues in corporate financial distress and bankruptcy. This area has moved into a public domain as a result of the recent global financial crisis that witnessed failures of many venerable institutions that got rescued by the government....

We examine the relationship between shareholder rights and managerial propensity to engage in earnings smoothing. Using a measure of shareholder rights, and after controlling for factors that influence management’s decision to manage earnings, we conclude that increases in shareholder rights...

We investigate corporate governance and risk in Indonesian banking. More specifically, we investigate whether ownership concentration and commissioners affect bank risk and profitability. Using a sample of 117 Indonesian banks (for ownership concentration analysis), and 28 public banks (for...

This paper extends research on the corporate governance practices of transitional economies by examining whether the ability of the audit committee to constrain earnings management in Chinese firms is associated with the listing environment and the presence of government officials on the audit...

The Belgian Corporate Governance Code was published in 2004 and updated in 2009 to provide standards of good practice. Since 2008, Belgian law has imposed the creation of an audit committee for all listed firms. There are many published, empirical studies that focus on the relationship between...

Most regulations and corporate governance codes emphasize the adjective independent next to the words auditor and director because auditor and director independence is expected to result in better protection for shareholders and other stakeholders. In this study we use (1) the extent to which...

Over the years, many corporations have been trying to determine what they can and should do to contribute to the sustainability of the economic, social and ecological environment within which they operate. Corporate social responsibility has become a key senior management issue worldwide and an...

This chapter examines the relation between corporate governance mechanisms and operating performance and liquidity risk within the specific environment of West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) banks. The implementation of well-known western corporate governance mechanisms in emerging...

Investor demand for well-governed companies has steadily increased over the past decades, thus strengthening the role market incentives can play in improving corporate governance. Specifically in emerging markets though, where legal and regulatory frameworks for corporate governance often lag,...

Market globalization has caused significant changes in rules, recommendations and corporate governance practices. For the continuous improvement of corporate governance in the European countries, the audit committee has a key role in stakeholder protection (Dir. 2006/43/CE). The chapter aims at...