This paper investigates whether the NYSE and Sarbanes Oxley Act requirements for the independence and the financial knowledge of directors sitting on the board and the audit committee improve corporate hedging decisions. Our original hand collected dataset allows multiple definitions for...

This paper provides an independent assessment of the effects of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Sarbanes Oxley act (SOX) requirements of independence and financial literacy on the use of derivatives for hedging purposes. Our original hand collected database on directors' university...

The new NYSE rules for corporate governance require the audit committee to discuss and review the firm's risk assessment and hedging strategies. They also put additional requirements for the composition and the financial knowledge of the directors sitting on the board and on the audit committee....

This paper tests the effects of the independence and financial knowledge of directors on risk management and firm value in the gold mining industry. Our original hand-collected database on directors' financial education, accounting background, and financial experience allows us to test the...