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This paper sheds light on how appointing a lead independent director (LIDIR) affects a firm’s commitment to climate change and to what extent environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance is affected by a firm’s commitment to climate change in the presence of a LIDIR.

The authors utilise ordinary least squares (OLS) and a sample of 12,236 firm-year observations in the United States of America (USA) over the 2002–2019 period to test the predictions. The authors also apply alternative research designs such as propensity score matching, Heckman two-step and instrumental variable techniques to address endogeneity concerns.

The authors find that a LIDIR representation on the board is positively associated with a firm’s commitment to climate change. The authors also find that the association between a LIDIR representation on the board and a firm’s commitment to climate change is more pronounced in firms with a combined chief executive officer (CEO) and board chair positions than firms with both positions separated. Additional analysis suggests that increased commitment to climate change in the presence of a LIDIR improves ESG performance.

While the effect of a LIDIR on firm financial outcomes has received much attention, there is a lack of empirical evidence on whether lead independent directors are greener. The authors provide new and important contribution to the literature by investigating the relationship between an LIDIR representation on the board and non-financial outcomes from the perspective of climate change commitment and ESG performance. The findings may be informative to policymakers seeking to deal with climate change impacts on society to encourage the appointment of a LIDIR.

This paper contributes to the capital structure literature by examining the impact of financial leverage on firm performance and also the extent to which firm size and crisis matter in the leverage -performance relationship.

Using data from 2403 Indian firms during the period 1995–2014, generating a total of 19,544 firm-year observations, panel econometric methods are employed to test the leverage-performance relationship.

Drawing insights from agency theory and using Tobin's Q (TQ) as our main measure of performance, the authors uncover that financial leverage is negatively and significantly related to firm performance. The authors also observe that the impact of financial leverage on firm performance is lower for smaller firms than larger ones. Finally, the authors show that the 2007/08 financial crisis had no significant impact on the relationship between financial leverage and firm performance.

The paper provides fresh evidence on the impact of leverage on performance, particularly from the Indian context. This study is also among the first studies to examine the role of firm size and financial crisis in the leverage-performance relationship.

Tertiary education in Ghana has seen rapid advancement over the past two decades. This growth is the result of transformative policy reforms such as upgrading polytechnics into higher education status; the establishment of the University of Development Studies (UDS) in the northern part of the country; the amalgamation of existing Colleges of Education into degree awarding institutions; the creation of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to provide supplementary financial support for infrastructure, faculty research and development; expansion of distance education programs; modification of the student loan scheme; and a conducive regulatory environment that encourages private sector participation in higher education provision. In spite of these developments, the system continues to face several challenges such as limited funding to support academic programs; limited participation rates for low-income students, females, and minorities; difficulty recruiting and retaining young academic and research faculty; inadequate research capacities; limited ICT infrastructure to enhance instruction and curriculum delivery and inadequate facilities to support science and technology education; etc. This chapter focuses on the state of public higher education in Ghana with emphasis on current growth and challenges. The chapter offers descriptive analysis based on government policy reports and documents, enrollment data from universities in Ghana, and data from the Ministry of Education and the National Council for Tertiary Education in Ghana.

This paper examines the contentious relationship between investment and cash flow using the 2008–2009 credit supply shock as a form of the quasi-natural experiment.

Panel threshold models with unknown sample separation are estimated for a sample of publicly listed firms from nine African countries over the period 2003–2012. Using this approach reduces subjective or ex ante sample-splitting bias that is not accounted for in the extant literature.

The findings of the study indicate that investment–cash flow sensitivity is decreasing even during the global financial crisis (GFC) and for firms more likely to be financially constrained. The authors conclude that the usefulness of investment–cash flow sensitivity as a proxy for financial constraints is diminishing over time, even after directly addressing biases from ex ante subjective sample splitting and various forms of endogeneity.

The authors provide new empirical evidence from sharper tests of financial constraints for understudied African firms and highlight the need to relook at the usefulness of investment–cash flow sensitivity as a proxy of financial constraints.

This study empirically examines the nonlinear effects of mimicking peer firms' cash holdings on shareholder value, with consideration of macroeconomic conditions.

An instrumental variable approach for nonlinear models is estimated for a large sample of US firms over the period 1991–2019. This approach addresses the reflection problem in examining peer effects, whereby it is impossible to separate the individual's effects on the group, or vice versa, if both are simultaneously determined.

The authors find an inverted U-shaped association between shareholder value and mimicking intensity of peer firms' cash holdings. This result suggests that mimicking peer firms' cash holdings is subject to diminishing returns. It is more beneficial at lower levels of mimicking intensity but less so or suboptimal at higher levels. Further evidence indicates that this inverted U-shaped shareholder value-mimicking intensity nexus is asymmetric. Specifically, it is salient for decreases relative to increases in cash holdings and, more importantly, in good relative to bad macroeconomic states. The findings are robust to several concerns and have important implications for liquidity management policies.

The authors provide new empirical evidence of the nonlinear effects of mimicking peer firms' cash holdings on shareholder value, which varies with macroeconomic conditions.

Public information disclosure is a manifestation of transparency and contributes to governance-by-disclosure. Also, better financial reporting can improve the credibility and integrity of public finances and contribute to a better management of public resources. A survey was carried out in Cyprus of users’ of public financial reports concerning an expectation gap about the types of information included in such reports (information needs expectation gap) as well as the quality of such information (information quality satisfaction gap). The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Two focus groups of users and preparers of public financial reports were used to construct the questionnaire. Users of such reports, who belonged to all three categories of public sector financial reporting identified by IPSASB, were surveyed. The quantitative data obtained was analysed using SPSS and quadrant analysis to answer the research questions posed.

Data from 101 respondents confirmed that each of the information needs identified in the IPSASB Consultation Paper (2008) was rated as being a significant information need. Data analysis also showed that both types of expectation gap exist, especially as far as local authority and semi-public organisations are concerned.

The response rate in the self-administered survey was admittedly rather low but it was not unexpected mainly due to the survey’s very specialised nature and the tendency by people in Cyprus not to critique public bodies.

Deficient financial public sector reporting means the auditor general is not able to adequately express an opinion on public spending at the local government level. This, in turn, means taxpayers do not get the quality of services they pay for. At the same time, the lack of information transparency means corrupt practices are not eradicated. One answer to the problem would be legislating the content of public financial reports.

The lack of governance-by-public exposure means that services to the local community cost a lot more, due to corruption and inefficiency. In addition, it contributes to lowering market confidence and eventually contributes to financial crisis at the national level.

The survey conducted was the first of its kind in Cyprus to investigate financial public sector reporting and document both manifestations of the expectation gap. In addition, information needs identified in the IPSASB Consultation Paper (2008) was rated as significantly needed and this is the first time it has been done in Eurozone member state and in a country facing a financial crisis.