We examine whether the industry expertise of independent directors affects board monitoring effectiveness. We find that the presence of independent directors with industry experience on a firm's audit committee significantly curtails firms' earnings management. In addition, a greater representation of independent directors with industry expertise on a firm's compensation committee reduces chief executive officer (CEO) excess compensation, and a greater presence of such directors on the full board increases the CEO turnoverperformance sensitivity and improves acquirer returns from diversifying acquisitions. Overall, the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that having relevant industry expertise enhances independent directors' ability to perform their monitoring function.

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This study attempted to analyze learning strategies used by Hong Kong university students for learning English. Results indicate that Cantonese native speakers mostly used cognitive strategies when learning English, while memory strategies were the least used. Besides, the use of memory strategies among males varied significantly, and little difference was observed in the use of metacognitive strategies by females. The use of cognitive strategies was significantly associated with grade level, with fourth-year students using cognitive strategies more often than fifth-year students. Finally, on correlating the daily study time with cognitive strategies, it was observed that students who studied more than 0.5 hours a day used cognitive strategies more frequently than those who studied less than 0.5 hours a day. This study not only provides new evidence that grade level and study time affect the use of English learning strategies in Hong Kong, but also yields some important pedagogical implications.

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