Agency Theory is the dominant theory underpinning corporate governance. The theory arises from economic theory and states that the separation of management from control in firms creates agency issues due to the conflicts of interest between owners(principals) and managers(agents) who are assumed to pursue self-interest (Fama & Jensen 1983; Eisenhardt 1989). This relationship enables information … Continue reading
Author Archives: maeveoco
New EU Rules on disclosure of Board Diversity
New EU rules are requiring additional non-financial disclosures to be included in the annual reports of larger listed companies (European Union Regulations 2017). A Diversity Report is to be included in the corporate governance statements which will include information on the age, gender or educational and professional backgrounds of the board’s directors. In addition, the … Continue reading
The Boards Role in appointing the CEO, the case of Horse Racing Ireland
The coverage of the re-appointment of the existing CEO of Horse Racing Ireland(HRI) and the boards involvement in that decision highlights a key board role, that is, the boards control role (O’Conor 2017). The board of directors has three key roles: control, strategy and service (Zahra & Pearce 1989). The boards control role derives from … Continue reading
The importance of the Board Chairperson in non-profits
The recent coverage of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association management crisis raises many governance questions (RTE 2017). Part of the crisis concerns a dispute as to who is the valid chairperson with two potential candidates. So how important is this issue, that is how important is the chairperson? And does it matter who is chairperson … Continue reading
Chairperson-CEO Duality
CEO-Chairperson duality, that is, combining the roles of CEO and Chairperson of a board of directors, has been a focus of research, and the UK Governance Code discourages role duality (Solomon 2013; FRC 2014). This separation recognises the different roles of the two positions and that separation will minimise agency issues (Solomon 2013). The primary … Continue reading
GLEN: Good governance protects your most important asset, your reputation
Evidence of poor financial monitoring, managerial hegemony and overall failures of governance have brought “an abrupt and inglorious end to the story of an organisation which was instrumental in driving arguably the biggest social, legal and cultural change this generation has seen” (Linehan 2017). In 1988 homosexuality between consenting adults was a criminal offence and … Continue reading
A director is separate to her company –so why was a director personally liable for his company’s actions?
That directors are separate from the company and not liable to creditors is a core principal of company law: “the apathy of a creditor cannot justify an imputation of fraud against a limited company or its members …and…a creditor who will not take the trouble to use the means which the statute provides for enabling … Continue reading
The Importance of good governance: the case of INM
Independent News and Media confirmed that it is conducting a formal, independent review to examine and inquire into matters concerning its possible acquisition of the Irish national radio station Newstalk, which is owned by, the Denis O’Brien controlled, Communicorp(RTE 2017) . This follows reports that the INM CEO, Robert Pitt, had a conflict with the … Continue reading
Can a Director serve two Masters? Directors conflicts and independence
Independent directors are the basis of good governance and can provide objective and unbiased leadership and guidance. Independence means the director has “no known affiliation with the firm other than being on its board, taking into account the business, financial or personal affiliations, disclosed in financial statements, that compromise non-executive director independence” (Mulgrew & Forker … Continue reading
boards / CEO / corporate governance / director / non-profit / state agency / state-owned enterprise / women
Corporate Boards and the impact of Women Directors
“Only 17% of directors are women in Irish companies”[1] “One in three women directors in Ireland say a glass ceiling exists in Irish business”[2] On International Women’s Day (March 8th) numbers like these grab headlines and prompt urgent discussion, but do not answer the question, does board level gender diversity make a difference. Continue reading
Corporate Governance 