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This paper examines accounting and non-accounting based restrictive covenants in Australian private debt agreements. With respect to the former, our findings differ from previous research on public debt. We find more varied definitions of constraints and their specified tightness in private debt contracts than in public debt contracts. Further, limits on interest cover are found to be continuing constraints and not 'once-off' limits. The paper reports frequent use of more specific or 'tailored' accounting based constraints and the frequent inclusion of off-balance sheet numbers in the measurement rules specified.The paper also provides the first Australian evidence on the use of nonaccounting based constraints. These are pervasive and cover a wide range of corporate activity. While largely consistent with previous research the paper also reports evidence of restrictions previously argued to be sub-optimal and hence, unlikely to be observed. Specifically, there are frequent restrictions on firms' production and investment policies.We are grateful to several legal firms for providing generous access to private debt contracts. We also thank Greg Whittred, Jilnaught Wong (the Editor) and an anonymous referee for many helpful suggestions. Tony Abrahams and Anusha Kangatharan provided valuable research assistance.

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An important and controversial corporate governance issue is the extent to which share ownership by directors increases corporate performance. Some commentators suggest that increasing directors' shareholdings in their companies provides directors with the incentive to improve corporate performance. Other commentators suggest that high levels of director share ownership may simply entrench directors. We examine whether there is a positive relationship between the level of director shareholdings and corporate performance for 180 listed Australian companies. We find that, in some circumstances, such a relationship does exist but the results differ according to a number of factors such as the performance measure used, whether director share ownership is measured by dollar value or percentage of the shares of the company outstanding, the size of the company and the industry in which the company operates.

ABSTRACT. In natural systems, mixing is driven by turbulence, but current knowledge is limited in estuarine zones where predictions of contaminant dispersion are often inaccurate. A series of detailed field studies was conducted in a small subtropical creek in eastern Australia. Hydrodynamic, physiochemical and ecological measurements were conducted simultaneously to assess the complexity of the estuarine zone, notably the interactions between turbulence and environment. The measurements were typically performed at high frequency over a tidal cycle. The results provide an original data set to complement long-term monitoring and a basis for a more detailed study of mixing in sub-tropical systems. Unlike many long-term observations, velocity and water quality scalars were measured herein with sufficient spatial and temporal resolutions to determine quantities of interest in the study of turbulence, while ecological indicators were sampled systematically and simultaneously. In particular the results yielded contrasted outcomes, and the finding impacts on the selection process for key water quality indicators.

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