The Dutch 'Female Board Index' 2008

The Dutch ‘Female Board Index 2008’ provides for the second year an overview of female representation on the Board of Directors and Supervisory Boards of 113 Dutch NV companies1 listed on Euronext Amsterdam. The companies were classified according to the percentage of women present on their combined Board of Directors and Supervisory Boards. The Dutch ‘Female Board Index’ also analyses the differences between male and female executive directors and supervisors ('non-executive directors') and between companies with or without female representation on their Board of Directors and/or Supervisory Boards (together the ‘Board’)

De Nederlandse 'Female Board Index' 2007

Dit rapport geeft een overzicht van de aanwezigheid van vrouwen in de Raden van Bestuur (‘RvB’) en Raden van Commissarissen (‘RvC’) van 122 Nederlandse N.V.’s genoteerd aan de Amsterdamse Euronext. De ondernemingen zijn gerangschikt naar het percentage vrouwen in de gecombineerde RvB en RvC. Vervolgens is een verschillenanalyse gemaakt op persoonsniveau (kenmerken zoals leeftijd en nationaliteit van de vrouwelijke bestuurders en commissarissen zijn afgezet tegen dezelfde kenmerken van hun mannelijke collega’s). Daarnaast is een verschillenanalyse gemaakt op ondernemingsniveau, om na te gaan wat de karakteristieken zijn van ondernemingen met vrouwen in de RvB en RvC ten opzichte van ondernemingen zonder vrouwen en of er een verband bestaat tussen bepaalde ondernemingskenmerken (zoals sector en omvang) en het aandeel vrouwen. De beschrijving van de samenstelling van RvB en RvC is vergelijkbaar met de studie van Sealy, Singh and Vinnicombe, (2007) ‘The Female FTSE Report 2007” waarin de aanwezigheid van vrouwen voor 100 ondernemingen genoteerd aan de FTSE is geanalyseerd. Dit rapport over de Nederlandse ‘Female Board Index’ gaat echter verder dan de beschrijving van de samenstelling, want ook de verschillen tussen mannelijke en vrouwelijke commissarissen en tussen ondernemingen met of zonder vrouwen in de RvB en/of RvC zijn geanalyseerd. De verschillende kenmerken worden afzonderlijk geanalyseerd zonder op eventuele onderlinge verbanden tussen de variabelen (causaliteit) te testen

Operating-Lease Disclosures: an empirical investigation

In 2008, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), in cooperation with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), will issue a new proposal to change the current accounting regulation with respect to leasing to an alternative approach. This new lease-accounting approach, called the “asset and liability approach”, capitalises all leases on the balance sheet. This contrasts with the current lease-accounting approach, called the “risk and reward approach”, which discriminates between the recognition of financial leases on the balance sheet and the disclosure of operating leases off the balance sheet. As with the current risk and reward approach, also the asset and liability approach has many opponents. This study investigates: - what the impact on financial ratios might be when operating leases are capitalised on the balance sheet, - what company characteristics determines the choice for operating leases, and - whether financially-distressed companies use more operating leases than healthy companies. The results show that operating leases have become a major financing source, which is not only attributable to the accounting treatment of operating leases. However, the information on operating leases as required in the footnotes to the financial statements is not transparent, nor reliable. The current lease-accounting standards might be maintained but improved, and this could be an intermediate solution that is acceptable for the proponents of both lease-accounting approaches

What national governance codes say about corporate culture

Purpose: This study aims to provide insight into the current incorporation of corporate culture in national corporate governance codes. The authors identify three levels of incorporation for each of the following three dimensions: layers of corporate culture (the “what”), the alignment of corporate culture in the organization (the “for whom”) and the board’s roles regarding corporate culture (the “how”). Design/methodology/approach: To assess the extent to which national codes have incorporated corporate culture, the authors used a sample of 88 national corporate governance codes. The authors performed a content analysis of these codes using a computer-aided text analysis program. The first step involved the identification of dimensions of corporate culture per national code. These dimensions were then assessed based on three levels of incorporation. Finally, the authors ranked national codes with similar levels of incorporation per dimension and aggregated the dimensions. Findings: The data show that five of the 88 national corporate governance codes that the authors analysed scored the highest level in all three dimensions of corporate culture. Originality/value: This is the first study to provide an overview of what national corporate governance codes say about corporate culture. The authors address two gaps in the existing literature. First, the authors develop and use a richer conceptualization of how corporate culture can be addressed in national corporate governance codes. Second, the authors analyse these corporate governance codes worldw

Women on boards and firm performance

This study investigates the financial performance of Dutch companies both with and without women on their boards. The analysis extends earlier methods used in research by Catalyst (The bottom line: corporate performance and women's representation on boards, 2007) and McKinsey (Women matter. Gender diversity, a corporate performance driver. McKinsey & Company, USA, 2007), two studies that are often cited in the literature, although, each has a number of methodological shortcomings. This article adds to the international debate, which is often normative, through examining 99 listed companies in the Dutch Female Board Index. Our results show that firms with women directors perform better than those without women on their boards

Female Institutional Directors on Boards and Firm Value

The aim of this research is to examine what impact female institutional directors on boards have on corporate performance. Previous research shows that institutional female directors cannot be considered as a homogeneous group since they represent investors who may or may not maintain business relations with the companies on whose corporate boards they sit. Thus, it is not only the effect of female institutional directors as a whole on firm value that has been analysed, but also the impact of pressure-resistant female directors, who represent institutional investors (investment, pension and mutual funds) that only invest in the company, and do not maintain a business relation with the firm. We hypothesize that there is a non-linear association, specifically quadratic, between institutional and pressure-resistant female directors on boards and corporate performance. Our results report that female institutional directors on boards enhance corporate performance, but when they reach a certain threshold on boards (11.72 %), firm value decreases. In line with female institutional directors, pressure-resistant female directors on boards also increase firm value, but only up to a certain figure (12.71 % on boards), above which they have a negative impact on firm performance. These findings are consistent with an inverted U-shaped relationship between female institutional directors and pressure-resistant female directors and firm performance