Monitoring Mechanisms (monitoring + mechanism)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The Agency Problems, Firm Performance and Monitoring Mechanisms: the evidence from collateralised shares in Taiwan

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, Issue 3 2004
Lanfeng Kao
This paper indicates that there is an inverse relationship between collateralised shares and firm performance. We further show that this inverse relationship exists only in conglomerate firms. These findings imply that agency problems resulting from shares used as collateral by boards of directors are more serious in conglomerate firms than in non-conglomerate firms. Moreover, we provide evidence that monitoring by institutional investors, creditors and dividend policy can effectively reduce the agency problems of shares used as collateral and thus can improve firm performance. [source]


A Monitoring Role for Deviations from Absolute Priority in Bankruptcy Resolution

FINANCIAL MARKETS, INSTITUTIONS & INSTRUMENTS, Issue 5 2003
By Dina Naples Layish
Firms that have successfully reorganized under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy laws of the United States frequently award shares of common stock in the reorganized firm to pre-bankruptcy shareholders, even though pre-bankruptcy creditors' claims are not fully satisfied. Using a sample of large publicly traded firms, these deviations from absolute priority (DAPR) are found to be positively related to the severity of agency costs within a financially distressed firm. US bankruptcy laws may exacerbate these agency costs by granting exclusivity to management during the reorganization period. Firms in which outside shareholders are more concentrated have a lower occurrence of DAPR indicating that blockholders provide an effective monitoring mechanism for controlling managerial behavior during reorganization. On the other hand, firms without this monitoring mechanism have a higher probability of DAPR indicating that creditors attempt to control managerial behavior by providing them with some sort of financial compensation via their equity holding in the firm. Finally, the evidence indicates that DAPR can be used to mitigate the hold-up problem resulting from voting rights granted to both junior and senior claimants of the firm by US bankruptcy laws. [source]


Agency problems and audit fees: further tests of the free cash flow hypothesis

ACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 2 2010
Paul A. Griffin
G34; G35; M41; M42 Abstract This study finds that the agency problems of companies with high free cash flow (FCF) and low growth opportunities induce auditors of companies in the US to raise audit fees to compensate for the additional effort. We also find that high FCF companies with high growth prospects have higher audit fees. In both cases, higher debt levels moderate the increased fees, consistent with the role of debt as a monitoring mechanism. Other mechanisms to mitigate the agency costs of FCF such as dividend payout and share repurchase (not studied earlier) do not moderate the higher audit fees. [source]


Effect of regulatory oversight on the association between internal governance characteristics and audit fees

ACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 1 2008
El'fred Boo
G34; M42; N40 Abstract We examine the relationship between internal governance, external audit monitoring and regulatory oversight for a sample comprising industrial companies and financial/utility companies subject to additional industry-specific regulation. Our results indicate that the association between audit fees and board/audit committee independence and size are weaker for regulated companies. These observations are consistent with the notion that regulatory oversight partially substitutes the external audit as a monitoring mechanism. However, boards/audit committees with more multiple directorships demand a more extensive audit in the presence of regulatory oversight to protect their reputation capital. Our study enhances our understanding of the complex relationships among the major corporate governance elements. [source]


Board Monitoring, Regulation, and Performance in the Banking Industry: Evidence from the Market for Corporate Control

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, Issue 5 2010
Jens Hagendorff
ABSTRACT Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Question/Issue: The specific monitoring effect of boards of directors versus industry regulation is unclear. In this paper, we examine how the interaction between bank-level monitoring and regulatory regimes influences the announcement period returns of acquiring banks in the US and twelve European economies. Research Findings/Insights: We study three board monitoring mechanisms , independence, CEO-chair duality, and diversity , and analyze their effectiveness in preventing underperforming merger strategies under bank regulators of varying strictness. Only under strict banking regulation regimes, do board independence and diversity improve acquisition performance. In less strict regulatory environments, corporate governance is virtually irrelevant in improving the performance outcomes of merger activities. Theoretical/Academic Implications: Our results indicate a complementary role between monitoring by boards and bank regulation. This study is the first to report evidence consistent with complementarity by investigating the effectiveness (rather than the prevalence) of governance arrangements across regulatory regimes. Practitioner/Policy Implications: Our work offers insights to policymakers charged with improving the quality of decision-making at financial institutions. Attempts to improve the ability of bank boards to critically assess managerial initiatives are most likely to be successful if internal governance is accompanied by strict industry regulation. [source]


Capital Investment and Earnings: International Evidence

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, Issue 5 2009
Ahmet Can Inci
ABSTRACT Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Question/Issue: We examine the nature of the dynamic linkage (causality) between earnings and capital investment using firm-level data from around the world to see whether the legal environment, including corporate governance and monitoring mechanisms, and financial development are important in the profitability of capital investment. Research Findings/Insights: Using firms in 40 countries over the period 1988,2004, we find that the causality from earnings to capital investment is positive and strong in almost all countries, irrespective of the type of legal system and the degree of financial development. However, the causality from capital investment to earnings is generally negative for firms in civil law and financially undeveloped countries, while the causality is generally positive in common law and financially developed countries. Therefore, our international cross-country study enables us to find that the legal system and financial development are factors in the determination of the profitability of capital investment. Theoretical/Academic Implications: Our findings imply that internal financing is a significant constraint for capital investment, which provides support for the pecking order theory even for financially developed markets and for the free cash flow theory. Common law and financially developed countries tend to provide better shareholder protection with more efficient corporate governance and better investment decisions. Practitioner/Policy Implications: To encourage managers to make capital investments in value-increasing projects, it is important to further improve a legal environment that includes corporate governance, monitoring, and incentive mechanisms. Financial development that includes effective financial regulatory agencies should be sought. [source]


Embodiment of discrimination and overseas nurses' career progression

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 12 2007
John Aggergaard Larsen PhD
Aim and objectives., To examine empirically and in-depth how discriminatory attitudes and practices are experienced by overseas nurses and how the discrimination may affect their well-being and career progression and, furthermore, to apply the theoretical perspective of embodiment in understanding these processes. Background., The UK healthcare sector has, in recent years, relied on overseas-trained professionals to fill up vacancies in nursing and other professions. Research shows that overseas nurses claim that their UK colleagues, managers and patients express discriminatory, racist and xenophobic attitudes. Design and method., The paper provides an existential phenomenological analysis of in-depth interviews with two overseas nurses. The data are drawn from a study of overseas-trained healthcare workers' experiences working and living in the UK. The two cases have been purposively selected to provide an illumination and discussion of personal experiences with discrimination, how individuals may respond to these and how their professional career is affected. Findings., Discrimination towards migrant workers may, at times, be experienced as ,blatant racism' or, in more subtle forms, as ,aversive racism'. It is demonstrated how such discrimination may impact on the afflicted person's sense of self, suggesting a theoretical model of the embodiment of discrimination. Discrimination not only works at an interpersonal and institutional level, but is a form of ,symbolic violence' that may be internalized to affect the person's ,habitus'; it can be resisted through meaning-making activity that explains and hence objectifies and embodies the experience in a way that allows individuals to positively influence their situation through agency. Conclusion., This article details how social and institutionalized discrimination in the UK healthcare sector may be internalized by overseas workers and affects their professional careers. Relevance to clinical practice., The study allows a theoretical reflection on the damage inflicted by discrimination, and it may contribute to the eradication of discriminatory practices and the development of necessary support and monitoring mechanisms. [source]


Assessing levels of contaminants in breast milk: methodological issues and a framework for future research

PAEDIATRIC & PERINATAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 1 2008
Mary J. Renfrew
Summary To assess the scale of the possible exposure by the breast-fed infant to potentially harmful substances in breast milk, methodologically robust studies are essential. Many studies in this field, however, do not report details of crucial issues such as recruitment and milk sampling. The aims of the study reported here were to develop robust methods for the study of contaminants in breast milk, and to develop a framework for future research and population monitoring. Three cohorts of women and babies were recruited by midwives from five sites in northern England. Cohort 1 (cross-sectional, n = 322) were asked to provide two milk samples, one at one week following birth and one at a subsequent time point. Cohort 2 (longitudinal, n = 54) were asked to provide five samples at specified time points over the first 12,16 weeks after birth. Cohort 3 (convenience, n = 18), mothers of babies in the Special Care Unit, were asked to donate surplus breast milk. A novel method of analysing fat concentration in small volumes was developed and tested. A randomly selected set of samples from different donors and stages of lactation was screened for organochlorine pesticide residues, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins/furans, phthalates and heavy metals. A total of 453 samples were donated. Cohort 3 was the least successful route of recruitment. Cohorts 1 and 2 combined were most representative of the population. Sample collection, transport and storage procedures, and the collection of data on life style and diet, were robust and acceptable to women. Midwifery involvement in recruitment was an essential component. This study offers a framework both for the conduct of future research studies, and for the establishment of regional and national monitoring mechanisms for contaminants in breast milk. Similar work on contaminants in formula as fed to babies is needed to inform risk assessment methods. [source]


Board Composition And Corporate Use Of Interest Rate Derivatives

THE JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2004
Kenneth A. Borokhovich
Abstract We provide new evidence on the motives for corporate hedging by examining the relation between the quality of the firms' monitoring mechanisms and the quantity of interest rate derivatives employed. Because the capital structure decision and hedging decision are considered to be endogenous, the firm's capital structure and level of interest rate derivative use are modeled simultaneously. We show a positive relation between the relative influence of outside directors and the quantity of derivatives used. This evidence indicates that outside directors take an active role in derivatives usage and that firms employ hedging in the shareholders' best interests. [source]


Reality monitoring and the media

APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2007
Marcia K. Johnson
The study of reality monitoring is concerned with the factors and processes that influence the veridicality of memories and knowledge, and the reasonableness of beliefs. In thinking about the mass media and reality monitoring, there are intriguing and challenging issues at multiple levels of analysis. At the individual level, we can ask how the media influence individuals' memories, knowledge and beliefs, and what determines whether individuals are able to identify and mitigate or benefit from the media's effects. At the institutional level, we can ask about the factors that determine the veridicality of the information presented, for example, the institutional procedures and criteria used for assessing and controlling the quality of the products produced. At the inter-institutional level we can consider the role that the media play in monitoring the products and actions of other institutions (e.g. government) and, in turn, how other institutions monitor the media. Interaction across these levels is also important, for example, how does individuals' trust in, or cynicism about, the media's institutional reality monitoring mechanisms affect how individuals process the media and, in turn, how the media engages in intra- and inter-institutional reality monitoring. The media are interesting not only as an important source of individuals' cognitions and emotions, but for the key role the media play in a critical web of social/cultural reality monitoring mechanisms. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


CEO Power and Firm Performance: A Test of the Life-Cycle Theory,

ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2009
Maretno A. Harjoto
Abstract We examine the effects of corporate governance and monitoring mechanisms on the choice of board leadership structure and the value and performance of a firm according to the firm's life-cycle changes. Employing a large and extensive sample during the 1995,2005 period, we find that the board leadership choice is associated with governance characteristics including board independence, managerial entrenchment, and CEO abilities measured by CEO age and CEO tenure after controlling for various firm characteristics. In addition, after correcting for the endogenous treatment effect, our results show that while CEO dualities-i.e., CEO-chair of the board or CEO-nomination committee member , or CEO pluralities-i.e., CEO-chair of the board, and a chair or a member of the nomination committee-positively influences firm value and performance in firm's early stage, CEO duality or CEO pluralities adversely influences firm value and operating performance in firm's late stage. These results are supportive of the life-cycle theory, suggesting that CEO power concentration is beneficial in firms' early stage, but harmful in firm's late stage at which firms require check-and-balance as opposed to dictatorship. In addition, the impact of external monitoring by institutional ownership on firm value and performance is more effective than those of independent board and blockholders' ownership while the impact of Sarbane-Oxley Act on firm performance is not significant. [source]


Monitoring infrastructure for converged networks and services

BELL LABS TECHNICAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2007
Shipra Agrawal
Network convergence is enabling service providers to deploy a wide range of services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet Protocol television (IPTV), and push-to-talk on the same underlying IP networks. Each service has unique performance requirements from the network, and IP networks have not been designed to satisfy these diverse requirements easily. These requirements drive the need for a robust, scalable, and easy-to-use network management platform that enables service providers to monitor and manage their networks to provide the necessary quality, availability, and security. In this paper, we describe monitoring mechanisms that give service providers critical information on the performance of their networks at a per-user, per-service granularity in real time. This allows the service providers to ensure that their networks adequately satisfy the requirements of the various services. We present various methods to acquire data, which can be analyzed to determine the performance of the network. This platform enables service providers to offer carrier grade services over their converged networks, giving their customers a high-quality experience. © 2007 Alcatel-Lucent. [source]