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Recent research shows that a significant proportion of listed corporations in a number of major financial markets across the world are classified as family firms. That classification is based on a number of different definitions of a family firm, using criteria such as an ownership threshold and/or the presence of a family member on the board of directors and/or in the top managerial positions. The lack of a universal definition of listed family controlled corporations may undermine the comparability or even the validity of any empirical results reported. This paper aims to resolve the diversity of definitions in use by developing an operational definition of listed family controlled corporations that is consistent with agency theory — the most commonly adopted theoretical framework in existing empirical studies. Based on agency theory, I argue that the key difference between family and non-family firms lies in the control of the decision making processes of the corporation. I further argue that a family needs to dominate the management control structure in order to control decision making processes.

This study investigates whether family businesses (FBs) differ from non-family businesses (NFBs) regarding the institutionalisation of management accounting. Furthermore, it analyses whether FB-specific contextual factors such as the existence of non-family management and the level of family influence affect the establishment of discrete management accounting departments. Six hypotheses are formulated and tested based on survey results from 479 firms from Austria and 418 firms from Germany. Our results indicate that FBs establish fewer management accounting departments than NFBs do and that the heads of management accounting in FBs are less likely to hold a university degree compared with their counterparts in NFBs. Moreover, within FBs, larger firm size and the existence of non-family management are positively correlated with the establishment of management accounting departments, where firm size acts as the strongest predictor. As firm type (FB vs. NFB) emerged as a significant contextual factor for the institutionalisation of management accounting, this factor should be included in future studies of the organisation and set-up of the corporate management accounting function. Moreover, deeper investigation into the drivers and outcomes of FB-specific management accounting institutionalisation is needed.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of alternative flotation methods on price performance of seasoned equity offerings, and to compare the competing hypotheses supported by asymmetric information theory and agency theory. Based on 385 sample issues which were listed in Taiwan Stock Exchange from 1996 to 2006, we find that the bookbuilding flotation method demonstrates significant positive abnormal returns for issuing firms, whereas the fixed-price method exhibits negative results. The empirical findings support the agency theory in the sense that the bookbuilding procedure offers a mechanism to strengthen the external monitoring provided by blockholders, which can subsequently reduce the agency cost and thus increase the share price. Further cross sectional analysis confirms this argument. The result of the study implies that the governments should take effective actions to help regulate agency problems in emerging markets such as Taiwan.

This paper examines the effect of corporate tax avoidance on firm value using a sample of Vietnamese nonfinancial listed firms for the period 2007 to 2018. Using fixed effect, ordinary least square and system generalized method of moment estimation, the results show a positive and statistically significant relationship between corporate tax avoidance and firm value. Our result demonstrates the bright side of corporate tax avoidance at the firm level. Further analysis shows that the positive effect of corporate tax avoidance on firm value can be intensified by the effectiveness of the board of directors in monitoring management.

The relationship between executive compensation and firm performance is well documented in the existing literature. However, in the case of Asia Pacific firms, the least attention is paid while investigating this relationship. This study examines the relationship between executive compensation and firm performance in the Asia Pacific firms throughout 2007–2019. We use the total salary paid to chief executive officers and equivalent, the total compensation paid to the CEO, and the equivalent and total salaries and bonuses paid to the CEO and equivalent as a measure of executive compensation. For the firm performance, both accounting measure (ROA) and market measure Tobin’s $Q$ (TQ), and various control variables were used. We found that a firm performance has a positive relationship with total compensation paid to CEO and total salaries and bonuses paid to the CEO. Our results support the agency theory by confirming that higher CEO compensation will lead towards higher firm performance by motivating executives to maximize shareholder benefits. However, the total salary does not have any significant relationship. The overall result of the study indicates that the results of the Asia Pacific regions complement the results obtained in another part of the developed world. The results are supported by the social comparison theory. The study has a practical implication for policymakers, business owners, shareholders, and executives by suggesting aligning their business strategies based on compensation parameters for achieving the best firm performance.

This paper examines the relation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and corporate tax avoidance in the context of Taiwan’s change from an imputation to classical tax system in 2018. Using a sample of 1,277 listed firms from 2015 to 2020, I determine that, after 2018, firms engage in tax avoidance to a greater extent. Furthermore, firms that perform well in CSR are less likely to engage in tax avoidance. After the 2018 legislative change, firms with high CSR performance are less likely to engage in tax avoidance to a greater extent. These results are consistent with the stakeholder theory and withstand a battery of robustness checks.

Venture capitalist and buy-out funds are often considered experts at investing in high-risk projects and companies. To be successful investors, private equity funds must therefore manage the many aspects of risk that are associated with investing in non-public enterprises. This study examines how Indian private equity funds manage several dimensions of risk in comparison to non-Anglo-Saxon funds. We analyze risk management preferences in Indian and Franco-German funds in pre- and post-investment stages. The results, which are discussed in detail, show significant differences between the two groups.

We examine the effects of venture capitalist involvement and equity incentives for all employees on the performance of initial public offering firms. Data was collected from 402 IPO firms, representing 242 non-VC backed and 160 VC backed firms. Results indicate venture capitalists positively influence the likelihood the portfolio firm will offer equity incentives to all employees. Consistent with the agency theory argument that monitoring and incentives can behave as complements to one another, the results suggest venture capitalist backing and incentive stock options for all employees operate in concert to have a positive effect on stock price performance three years after the initial public offering.

This study examines the relationship between board composition and voluntary risk disclosure during uncertainty for a sample of United Kingdom-listed companies. A strand of the disclosure literature focusing on the impact of the board on corporate disclosure argues that board composition influences the extent and quality of corporate disclosure, but such literature has largely used data from stable periods and rarely on risk disclosure. Instead, using agency theory, we examine the impact of board composition on risk disclosure during corporate uncertainty for a sample of UK-listed companies for the period 2006–2015. We used content analysis to derive our measure of risk disclosure and measure board composition based on its size, independence, meeting frequency, and gender diversity. Our regression analyses controlled for the extent of firms’ agency costs, firm risk level, and the impact of mandatory risk disclosure regulation, among other control variables. Consistent with our hypotheses, we find that board size and board independence are positively associated with firms’ risk disclosure during uncertainty, but board meeting frequency and gender diversity seem inconsequential for risk disclosure. Firms’ risk disclosure is positively associated with risk level and mandatory risk disclosure. Our results are robust to alternative model specifications and endogeneity concerns. We highlight the implications of our findings for management practice and regulations.

This paper compares the innovation performance of state-owned firms owned by different levels of government, with that of privately owned firms. Analysis of a 116-firm panel dataset for the Chinese solar photovoltaic industry from 1999 to 2015 suggests that government’s financial support increases the quantity of innovation outputs. However, the efficiency in utilising the financial resources is determined by the effectiveness of agency relationships. Applying agency theory to the Chinese politico-economic context indicates that innovation quality depends on length and complexity of agency chains, engagement of monitors, and the tenure of managers. By using forward citations and proportion of patents in active use, two measures of innovation quality that are more valid and reliable than patent counts, our study finds that municipally owned firms are superior in terms of innovation productivity to those under central ownership, and comparable to private firms.

The purpose of this research is to find out the impact of free cash flows and agency costs on firm performance in KSE listed companies of Pakistan. A sample of 123 companies listed on KSE representing eight different sectors has been analyzed to determine the association of free cash flows, agency costs and firm performance with each other. For the purpose of analysis, secondary data of selected companies for the period 2003–2009 has been taken from balance sheet analysis of joint stock companies (BSA) issued by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Free cash flows have been calculated as by Poulsen (1993) and Lang et al. (1991) while four proxy variables for agency costs are used (Wang, 2010) to assess their relationship with each other and with the firm performance. Results showed that there is a significantly positive relationship between free cash flows and agency cost. Free cash flows have significantly negative impacts on firm performance. The study also shows a significantly negative impact of agency cost on firm performance with exception to total asset turnover (TATO) ratio which has a positive impact. In Pakistani context, the minority shareholders are exploited by the majority shareholders and the management so the government with the help of this study can devise such rules of corporate governance in which the agency cost can be controlled. The investors also are benefitted from this study as they can efficiently manage their portfolio while looking at the impacts of agency costs and firms free cash flows. So this study enables us to better understand the linkage between agency cost, free cash flows and performance measures.

Executive remuneration has attracted the attention of the general public in recent years. It is an interest driven by the extensive and sustained rise in executive pay experienced in most developed countries. Two questions arise from increased executive pay. First, what are the determinants of executive pay and what is the nature of the relationship between executive pay and firm performance? Second, does rising executive pay reflect top management's contribution to firm performance or it is just following stationary patterns depending on past years? Prior research provides mixed findings, which may be attributed to the overlooked fact of the dynamic nature of the pay-performance association. Using UK data from 2000–2012, and employing mainly the generalised method of moment estimation (SYSTEM-GMM), this study aims to investigate whether chief executive officer (CEO) pay does actually enhance firm performance. I found that past CEO salary has a negative impact on accounting earnings, while CEO bonuses positively determine future earnings. It is also found that long-term compensation is positively associated with market-based performance measures. This supports the agency framework that executive pay can align the interests of managers and shareholders.

Today, not only the financial but also the non-financial attributes are considered vital for the financial health of the banks. To validate this argument, the current study investigates factors affecting the liquidity position of banks and examines its impact along with the moderation of the Sharia board on the liquidity of Islamic banks in Pakistan. Collecting panel data, this study applied a fixed-effect model on Pakistani Islamic banks for the post-financial crises period 2009–2020. Empirical findings revealed that total assets and profitability are positively and significantly linked to the liquidity position of Islamic banks. However, the deposits and capital adequacy ratios were found to have a negative influence on the Islamic banks’ liquidity. Among the macroeconomic factors, none has established significant nexus with the liquidity of Islamic banks in Pakistan. Interestingly, the insignificant relationship between funding cost became significant with the moderating factor of Sharia board size. The study provides important insights for the shareholders, customers, investors, and policymakers of Islamic banks. The empirical findings offer practical guidance for the regulators of Islamic banks to strengthen their Sharia boards to manage the liquidity position by regulating the funding costs. The Islamic banks’ liquidity position can also be managed by generating high profits, maintaining capital adequacy ratio, and increasing deposits. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study that investigates the moderating role of Sharia governance in managing the liquidity of Islamic banks in Pakistan. This research offers a new and most important direction for future studies to investigate the role of non-financial attributes along with the financial indicators in evaluating the financial soundness of Islamic banks.