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Prior research suggests that Corporate Environmental Performance (CEP) enables businesses to build strong corporate image and reputation, thus leading to improved firm financial performance. However, studies relating to the relationship between CEP and firm risk are scarce. This research intends to bridge the gap in the literature by examining whether CEP helps firms to reduce their financial risk. Results of the Ordinary Least Squares regression with fixed effects provide strong evidence that environmental performance is negatively associated with firm volatility and firm downside risk. The results are robust after controlling for moderating effects such as financial, institutional and environmental management.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs) compensation and corporate governance practices of publicly listed companies in New Zealand for the period 2005-2010. Design/methodology/approach – Prior literature argues that corporate governance systems and structures are heterogeneous, that is, corporate governance mechanisms that are important tend to be specific to a country and its institutional structures. The two corporate governance mechanisms most important for monitoring CEO compensation are ownership structure and board structure. The authors use a generalised least squares regression estimation technique to examine the effect ownership structure and board structure has on CEO compensation, and examine whether ownership structure, board structure, CEO and director compensation have an effect on company performance. Findings – After controlling for size, performance, industry and year effects, the authors report that internal features rather than external features of corporate governance practices influence CEO compensation. Companies that have their CEO on the board pay them more than those who do not sit on the board, suggesting CEOs on boards have power to influence board decisions and therefore boards become less effective in monitoring CEO compensation in the New Zealand context. Companies that pay their directors more tend to reward their CEOs more as well, thus supporting the managerial entrenchment hypothesis. Research limitations/implications – The results confirm the findings reported in prior studies that institutional investors are ineffective in monitoring managerial decisions and their focus is on decisions that benefit them on a short-term basis. Practical implications – The findings indicate that although the proportion of independent directors on boards does not significantly influence CEO compensation, it does indicate that outside directors are passive and are no more effective than insiders when it comes to the oversight and supervision of CEO compensation. Originality/value – Being a small and open financial market with many small- and medium-sized listed companies, New Zealand differs from large economies such as the UK and the USA in the sense that CEOs in New Zealand tend to be closely connected to each other. As such, the relationship between pay-performance for New Zealand is found to be different from those reported for the UK and the USA. In New Zealand, the proportion of institutional and/or block shareholders is positively associated with CEO compensation and negatively associated with company performance, suggesting that it is not an effective mechanism for monitoring CEO compensation.

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between corporate governance (CG), in terms of its internal significance, and cost of capital (COC), based on a sample of listed firms of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) over the period of 2009-2015. We used Pakistan as a case study mainly because we expect that key features of Pakistani setting in terms of CG and financial markets will have impact on the relationship between CG and COC. Drawing on a sample of 120 PSX listed firms, we find that CG compliance and disclosure (CG index [CGI]) has improved over time among PSX listed firms. The findings also reveal a positive relationship of institutional, government and director ownership with both CGI and COC, while this relationship becomes negative with block ownership. The findings of 2SLS reveal a significant negative association between CG compliance and COC; hence, firms with higher CG score enjoy a lower COC. Interestingly, gender diversity and board size have a negative association with CG compliance and COC, while audit firm size reveals a positive association with CG compliance and disclosure while a negative association with COC. The study contributes to existing literature dealing with CG and determinant of firm value (COC) in emerging markets, particularly in Pakistan, which has not been extensively explored in existing research.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of debt maturity on the relationship between financial leverage and future financing constraints. Moreover, it attempts to analyze the moderating role of short-term debt and the mediating role of future financing constraints in the relationship between financial leverage and future investment. Design/methodology/approach To test the moderating role of debt maturity, all the observations are divided into two groups based on short-term debt to total debt ratio. Moreover, Sobel, Aroian and Goodman tests are used to analyze the mediating role of future financing constraints. The sample used in this research includes firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2006 to 2018. Findings It is shown that financial leverage is inversely (positively) related to future financing constraints for firms with higher (lower) use of short-term debt and, short-term debt moderates the relation between financial leverage and future investment. The findings also indicate that future financing constraints carry the influence of financial leverage to future investment. Originality/value In an imperfect market where financing is not independent of investment, it is highly required to carry out some studies on the role of different financing scenarios in firms and their impacts on future financing and investment; therefore, this paper is conducted to address one of the most important issues in the capital market, which is almost the pioneer study in this field.

PurposeSince the initiation of the share split reform by the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in 2005, the private placement has become the major source of raising equity after IPO. The purpose of this paper is to investigate why listed firms in China prefer private placements compared to other options of raising capital.Design/methodology/approachThe ordinary least squares regression, the piecewise regression and the cross‐sectional regression analysis were undertaken to investigate the determinants and characteristics of the seasoned‐equity offerings announcement effects. Probit regression analysis was taken to estimate the probability of a firm choosing private placements.FindingsThe authors find positive significant announcement abnormal returns for private placement. The findings also indicate that operating performance deteriorates immediately after announcement and poor operating performance is more likely to be contributed by large size portfolios, which suggests size effect.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper's evidence contributes to an understanding of the wider implication of the share split reform undertaken by the CSRC.Practical implicationsThe paper provides insights for policy makers in China and around the world who have and wish to adopt similar practices within their jurisdictions. Similar research can be conducted in other emerging markets to enable better understanding and implications of seasoned equity offerings on firm financial performance.Originality/valueThe paper is novel in regard to the data and the wider research paradigm used.

This paper investigates the intensity of price and volatility spillover effects in five major stock markets within the Asia Pacific basin region with a particular emphasis in the spillover effects between Australia and China. VAR(5) model is used for measuring the return spillover while AR/VAR model with exogenous variables is employed for measuring the effects of same day returns on return spillover. .In modelling the volatility spillover, we employ AR/GARCH model which also incorporates the same day effects. Results of both return and volatility spillover provide evidence that there are significant spillover effects across different markets in the Asia-Pacific region and as well as between Australia and China. This study also provides support to the view that a market is most affected by other markets that opens/closes just before it. The main contribution of this paper is the confirmation of spillover effects between markets in the region, in particular, the interdependence between Australia and China which may have evolved only recently and thus have received relatively little research attention to date.

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