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Determinants of Board Members Financial Expertise - Empirical Evidence from France

Author

Listed:
  • Hervé Stolowy

    (GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Thomas Jeanjean

    (GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract
Very few countries require directors to be financially literate. This article investigates the determinants of boards' financial expertise using a sample of 95 non-financial French listed firms. We construct a measure of financial expertise based on educational and career background data for 943 individuals occupying 1,140 posts in our sample and explore the determinants of average per-firm financial expertise using a Tobit analysis. We find that average financial expertise is negatively associated with board type (two-tier versus one-tier) and growth opportunities and positively associated with board independence, ownership concentration, and institutional ownership. These findings are robust to sensitivity analyses.

Suggested Citation

  • Hervé Stolowy & Thomas Jeanjean, 2009. "Determinants of Board Members Financial Expertise - Empirical Evidence from France," Post-Print hal-00491688, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00491688
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intacc.2009.09.002
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    2. Nicolas Aubert, 2016. "Does the Catering Theory of Dividend Apply to the French Listed Firms?," Bankers, Markets & Investors, ESKA Publishing, issue 145, pages 27-38, November-.
    3. Aymen Ammari & Sarra Amdouni & Ahmed Zemzem & Abderrazak Ellouze, 2016. "The Effect of Monitoring Committees on the Relationship between Board Structure and Firm Performance," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Kahloul, Ines & Sbai, Hicham & Grira, Jocelyn, 2022. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility reporting improve financial performance? The moderating role of board diversity and gender composition," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 305-314.
    5. Peter J Baldacchino & Jean Paul Abela & Norbert Tabone & Simon Grima, 2021. "Board of Director Diversity and Its Corporate Governance Implications in Maltese Equity-Listed Companies," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 11(4), pages 37-65.
    6. Ines Maraghni & Mehdi Nekhili, 2017. "Audit committee characteristics and audit fees: Evidence from France [Caractéristiques du comité d’audit et honoraires d’audit : cas des entreprises françaises]," Post-Print hal-01907594, HAL.
    7. Quoc-Anh Do & Bang Dang Nguyen & Raghavendra- University Of Cambridge, Cambridge Judge Business School) Rau, 2013. "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice: What Are Good Directors Made of?," Sciences Po publications info:hdl:2441/69eil0vrec8, Sciences Po.
    8. Idris Adamu Adamu, 2024. "Disentangling the influence of female directors in the banking industry," GATR Journals afr231, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    9. Vassili Joannides & Nicolas Berland & D. T. Wickramasinghe, 2010. "Post-Hofstede diversity/cultural studies: what contributions to accounting knowledge?," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-00676570, HAL.
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/69eil0vrec871ooabetqvq0okj is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Mohammed Naif Alshareef & Hamid Ghazi H Sulimany, 2024. "Board Financial Expertise and Financial Sustainability: Evidence from Saudi-Listed Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-14, August.
    12. Rey Dang & Anne Françoise Bender & Marie José Scotto, 2014. "Women on French Corporate Board of Directors: How Do They Differ from their Male Counterparts?," Working Papers 2014-54, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    13. Paul B. McGuinness, 2018. "IPO Firm Performance and Its Link with Board Officer Gender, Family-Ties and Other Demographics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 499-521, October.
    14. Vinnari, Eija & Näsi, Salme, 2013. "Financial and technical competence of municipal board members: Empirical evidence from the water sector," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(7), pages 488-501.
    15. Gutiérrez‐Ponce Herenia & Chamizo González Julián & Manar Moffadi Awad Al‐mohareb, 2024. "Does corporate governance influence readability of the report by the chairman of the board of directors? The case of Jordanian listed companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3535-3550, July.
    16. Sarah Athirah Saruchi & Nor Aiza Mohd Zamil & Rohaida Basiruddin & Nor Faezah Ghazi Ahmad, 2019. "Examining the Impact of Corporate Governance on Intellectual Capital: Empirical Evidence of Islamic Banks," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 9(3), pages 104-117, July.
    17. Vassili Joannides & Nicolas Berland & Danture Wickramasinghe, 2010. "Post-Hofstede diversity/cultural studies: what contributions to accounting knowledge?," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-01661685, HAL.
    18. Kamal Anouar & Nicolas Aubert, 2016. "Does the catering theory of dividend apply to the French listed firms?," Working Papers halshs-01401867, HAL.
    19. Quoc-Anh Do & Bang Dang Nguyen & Raghavendra- University of Cambridge, Cambridge Judge Business School) Rau, 2013. "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice: What Are Good Directors Made of?," Working Papers hal-03460924, HAL.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial expertise; board of directors; supervisory board; corporate governance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D53 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Financial Markets

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