Board of directors and top management team: a study on CEO relative power and financial return

Best corporate governance practices published in the primers of Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission and the Brazilian Corporate Governance Institute promote board independence as much as possible, as a way to increase the effectiveness of governance mechanism (Sanzovo, 2010). Therefore, this paper aims at understanding if what the managerial literature portraits as being self-evident - stricter governance, better performance - can be observed in actual evidence. The question answered is: do companies with a stricter control and monitoring system perform better than others? The method applied in this paper consists on comparing 116 companies in respect to the their independence level between top management team and board directors– being that measured by four parameters, namely, the percentage of independent outsiders in the board, the separation of CEO and chairman, the adoption of contingent compensation and the percentage of institutional investors in the ownership structure – and their financial return measured in terms return on assets (ROA) from the latest Quarterly Earnings release of 2012. From the 534 companies listed in the Stock Exchange of Sao Paulo – Bovespa – 116 were selected due to their level of corporate governance. The title “Novo Mercado” refers to the superior level of governance level within companies listed in Bovespa, as they have to follow specific criteria to assure shareholders ´protection (BM&F, 2011). Regression analyses were conducted in order to reveal the correlation level between two selected variables. The results from the regression analysis were the following: the correlation between each parameter and ROA was 10.26%; the second regression analysis conducted measured the correlation between the independence level of top management team vis-à-vis board directors – namely, CEO relative power - and ROA, leading to a multiple R of 5.45%. Understanding that the scale is a simplification of the reality, the second part of the analysis transforms all the four parameters into dummy variables, excluding what could be called as an arbitrary scale. The ultimate result from this paper led to a multiple R of 28.44%, which implies that the combination of the variables are still not enough to translate the complex reality of organizations. Nonetheless, an important finding can be taken from this paper: two variables (percentage of outside directors and percentage of institutional investor ownership) are significant in the regression, with p-value lower than 10% and with negative coefficients. In other words, counter affirming what the literature very often portraits as being self-evident – stricter governance leads to higher performance – this paper has provided evidences to believe that the increase in the formal governance structure trough outside directors in the board and ownership by institutional investor might actually lead to worse performance. The section limitations and suggestions for future researches presents some reasons explaining why, although supported by strong theoretical background, this paper faced some challenging methodological assumptions, precluding categorical statements about the level of governance – measured by four selected parameters – and the financial return in terms of financial on assets.

Informe final de la Reunión de Directores de Estadística de las Américas = Report of the Meeting of Directors of Statistics of the Americas

Presenta la organizacion de los trabajos y resumen de los debates de la reunion, en la que se analizaron aspectos globales de los Censos de Poblacion y Vivienda que requieren decisiones a nivel de Directores de Estadistica; la participacion de los paises latinoamericanos y del Caribe en el 24o periodo de sesiones de la Comision de Estadistica de las Naciones Unidas; y se evaluaron las actividades acordadas en la 9a Conferencia Interamericana de Estadistica.

Informe final de la Reunión de Directores de Estadística de las Américas = Final report of the Meeting of Directors of Statistics of the Americas

Presenta el resumen de los debates de la reunión que tuvo como principales propósitos evaluar los avances logrados en actividades preparatorias de la Ronda de Censos del 90, absorción de tecnologías computacionales para el desarrollo estadístico de la región, cooperación técnica, capacitación y situación de las estadísticas sociales.

Report of the board of directors of the Catalinas Warehouses and Pier Joint Stock Company.

Mode of access: Internet.

Annual report of the Board of Directors of the Panama Rail Road Company to the stockholders.

Mode of access: Internet.

Desiccated alimentary vegetable substances : reports of two boards of navy officers, convened by order of William A. Graham, at the U.S. Navy yard, New York, in Nov. 1851, and at Washington City, in May, 1852 ... /

"To examine certain desiccated alimentary vegetable substances, prepared, after the process of M. Masson ... and, after the process of Dr. J.N. Gannal ... the conserve of milk, prepared by M. de Lignac ... and also the preserved potato of D. and H. Edwards and Co."

Modern missions in the Far East; a report prepared by William Adams Brown ... for the Board of directors of the Union theological seminary, January, 1917.

Mode of access: Internet.

The elementary and complete examiner; or, Candidate's assistant: prepared to aid teachers in securing certificates from boards of examiners, and pupils in preparing themselves for promotion, teachers in selecting review questions in normal schools, institutes, and in all drill and class exercises.

Mode of access: Internet.

Letter of the Postmaster General to Hon. George W. Hopkins, in answer to a publication made by the Joint Board of Directors of the Delaware and Raritan Canal and Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Companies.

Signed: C. Johnson, Postmaster General.