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Adult Safeguarding Boards are the means by which local authorities in England and Wales seek to work collaboratively to protect adults at risk of abuse. The last two years have heralded the emergence of the role of Independent Chairs. This paper seeks to outline the experience of Adult Safeguarding Boards from around North West England.

A general review of the seven Independent Chairs and 15 employed chairs (typically Directors of Adult Social Services) in North West England endorsed the importance of having a virtual network to work on a shared portfolio of interests.

The review highlighted concerns regarding the independence of Independent Chairs, the challenges to partnership working created by the turnover of managers, the governance of Adult safeguarding Boards, and their performance and practice.

The paper confirms that diversity is the dominant characteristic of Adult Safeguarding Boards in North West England.

Employees play a vital role in the success of a corporation. While boards of directors are created to protect shareholders’ interests, it is unclear if these directors also ensure employee welfare. In this vein, our paper examines the relationship between board leadership structure and employee well-being.

The authors employ several analysis techniques, including univariate analysis, ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions, two-stage least squares (2SLS) regressions, propensity score matching methodology, the Heckman Selection model and difference-in-differences analysis. The sample comprises USA public firms for the period 1998–2018.

Our findings indicate that having an independent chairperson can significantly benefit the welfare of employees, especially for firms with overly powerful chief executive officers (CEOs) and during times of financial distress.

Independent leadership structure is one of the crucial board characteristics that have not been examined to explain employee welfare at firms. We find that an independent chairperson can mitigate the negative effect of overly powerful CEOs on employee benefits. Importantly, independent chairpersons are beneficial for employees in difficult times and when CEOs are busy with daily activities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the characteristics of the audit committee (AC) chair affect audit report timeliness. In particular, the direct association between AC chair accounting expertise and audit report delay, and the moderating effect of other characteristics of AC chair on this association are examined.

To achieve the purpose of this study, the characteristics examined by this study are AC chair expertise, shareholding, tenure and multiple directorships. Furthermore, a sample of Malaysian companies during the period 2005–2011 and the fixed effects panel data method are utilized.

The results suggest that an AC chair with accounting expertise is associated with a reduction in audit delay. The reduction is more obvious when the chair holds shares in the company, but is weakened by longer tenure and multiple directorships. These results are robust after conducting several robust tests. Using mediating analysis, the authors also document that an AC chair with accounting expertise can enhance the timeliness of audit reports even when the quality of financial reporting is lower. The reported result is supported by additional analysis that finds that AC chairs with accounting expertise and AC chairs with accounting expertise and shareholding are significantly associated with shorter abnormal audit delay.

This study provides comprehensive analysis concerning the association between AC chair and audit report timeliness using a unique setting. It is among the limited evidence that reports the moderating effect of AC chair characteristics on the role of such chair on audit report timeliness.

This paper relies on a “trinity of menetypes” of group knowing which captures the essential decision‐making dynamics of board membership. Formal, corporate decision‐making processes require higher commitments of time and cognitive energy of directors – certainly, the requirement is of non‐executive directors to make more formal contributions to the “political” process that determines corporate commitment to appropriate courses of action. There is a fundamental shift from “managerialism” to “politicism” in the corporate dynamics of organization – a shift in “menetype” driving governance dynamics. This wholesale shift in orientation has accentuated personal and group values as key determinants of corporate efficacy. The paper proposes structural reforms to corporate/agency governance conventions, including a greater focus on performance and strategy, greater independence of more effective and extensive audit processes and a greater transparency in the nomination and remuneration of top‐executive appointments.

There is a growing consensus that entrepreneurial activity is essentially a collective family endeavour, with some configuration of family involvement in business (FIB) working better than others. This paper aims to examine the effects of FIB on strategy and financial performance (FP), drawing from the institutional theory for the Indian family businesses.

The sample comprises of 105 pharmaceutical companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange for FY2013–2017. A two-way random effects panel model was invoked to examine the relationship between FIB and strategy, as well as the intermediating effect that strategy has on the FIB-FP link.

On average, the family has a high ownership concentration, with the founders predominantly holding the chief executive officer (CEO) and chair positions. The econometric results highlight that the founder’s descendants adopt a conservative strategy. A significant positive moderating effect of strategy on FIB-FP link was observed for the descendants as the largest owners, CEO and board chair. The presence of a professional CEO and independent chair, however, leads to an intervening adverse impact on FP. The ownership-management-governance configurations highlight that some combinations of family and non-FIB leads to better performance than others.

The study provides a plausible explanation for the conflicting evidence on the direct FIB-FP relationship through the strategy intermediation. The institutional perspective emphasizing the identity and role family members play in terms of strategy provides an unconventional epistemological underpinning to the present research.

This study aims to explore the set of corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee attributes that may enhance CSR performance and CSR strategy formation and reduce CSR controversies.[AQ1] Towards this end, the study also explores the differences between companies with and without CSR committees in terms of these three CSR performance facets.

The study uses a sample of financial times stock exchange (FTSE) 100 non-financial companies in 2015–2017. Kruskal-Wallis test is conducted to test the differences in CSR performance in firms with CSR board-level committee, CSR management committee and no committees. Additionally, a regression model is used to explore the attributes of CSR committees that lead to better/less CSR performance and CSR strategy/CSR controversies. A two-stage least squares regression model was used as a robustness check.

Firms with board CSR committee have better CSR performance and CSR strategy and lower CSR controversies than both firms with no CSR committees and firms with a CSR management committee. Regression results show that CSR committees that are predominantly consisting of independent board members, chaired by a female director and setting more meetings have better CSR performance. Additionally, CSR committees were found to have lower CSR controversies when having more independent directors and a chair with CSR expertise. CSR strategy was better with the CSR committee represented by a larger group of members.

This study makes several contributions to the sustainability governance literature and regulatory/guidance interfaces. There is extant literature examining audit committee attributes and their effects on various firm outcomes. The same can be said on the regulations of the audit committee. CSR committees’ composition and benefits are, by far, less regulated and largely under-researched. Hence, this paper is considered an early attempt to explore the CSR performance improvements a CSR committee may bring and the composition that would bring better CSR performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of audit committee (AC) attributes on the performance of finance companies in Malaysia in both period before and after the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) was issued in order to determine which of the AC attributes enhances performance of finance companies in Malaysia.

The population of the study comprises firms listed under finance sector of the main market of Bursa Malaysia. The number of firms listed on the main market of Bursa Malaysia as at the time of data collection (2012) was 822, out of which 37 were finance firms. Since the number of finance companies listed on the main market was only 37, all companies were used as sample for this study. This comprises companies involved in commercial, investment and Islamic banking, insurance, Takaful and other finance-related services. The sample for the period prior to MCCG varies over the period of observation. The number of finance companies in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 was 36, 40, 44, 47 and 54, respectively. The sample comprises companies in commercial banking, investment banking, Islamic banking, insurance, Takaful and other finance-related services. The sample comprises firms listed on the main board of Kuala Lumpur stock exchange as it was called before the name was changed to Bursa Malaysia. The companies listed under the Ace market are not included due to their small number and because they are subject to different listing requirements. The list of the finance companies for the period 2007-2011 is obtained from the web site of Bursa Malaysia while for the period 1992-1996, the list is obtained from Bursa Malaysia knowledge centre. The observation period for the study covers financial period from 2007 to 2011 which represents post MCCG period while period from 1992 to 1996 represents the period before MCCG.

The findings suggests a significant positive relationship between independent AC members and profitability while dual membership of directors on audit and nomination committee is significant and negatively related with profitability. The result supports agency theory which suggests that independent directors provide effective monitoring of the management thereby enhancing profitability and reducing possibility for opportunistic behavior by the management and ultimately enhancing performance. In addition, the result indicates that there was significant improvement in corporate governance in finance companies after the MCCG was issued compared to the period before it was issued.

The study focussed only on finance companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. The attributes examined include independence, expertise, experience, executive membership and interlock of directors, future studies could examine other attributes such as internal process of the committee and personal characteristics of the directors. Furthermore, the study used secondary data future studies could use primary data or a combination of primary and secondary data. The study only examined the period before MCCG and after the code was issued, future study could examine the impact of the first and second revision and compare it with period after the first and second revision.

The findings contribute to the literature and the understanding of the influence of AC attributes such as independence and experience of the directors on the committee by showing an association between director independence, expertise, experience and improved performance. Management and board of companies may use the findings to make appropriate choices about AC attributes and governance mechanisms to improve performance particularly with regards to independence, expertise, experience and interlock of the directors.

The study has provided policy makers with a better understanding of the various features a AC should have which could be incorporated in future policy formulation in order to safeguard investments of shareholders, protect the interest of various stakeholders and enhance the flow of capital and foreign direct investment into finance companies and the economy in general. Comparison of the result between the pre MCCG and post MCCG period shows an improvement in corporate governance in finance companies after the MCCG was issued. This implies that the initial issue of MCCG impacted positively on the governance of the finance companies.

To best of the authors knowledge the study is the first to examine the attributes of AC in finance sector as a whole and to examine the impact in the period before and after the MCCG was issued.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation of corporate governance (CG) attributes, such as separate leadership (SL) structure, independent chair (IC) of the board, and the proportion of independent directors on the board (Bind) recommended by the new Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (2012), with firms’ market performance measured by share market price.

The paper uses a randomly selected sample of 150 non-financial Malaysian listed companies. To find the distinct impact of the code, the paper explicitly divides the sample into two-year pre-context (2010-2011) and two-year post-context (2013-2014) of the code. Besides descriptive statistics, the study also employs correlation and multiple regression estimators.

By comparing the pre-context and post-context of the code, the study found that SL and Bind have a significant positive relation while IC of the board has a significant negative relation with share market price after enactment of the code.

The paper has a limitation of using only two years of data due to its non-availability particularly after enactment of the code. The findings show that the new code slightly improved compliance to the CG attributes investigated. Based on findings, the study also recommends further improvement in compliance to CG codes and other voluntary regulations in Malaysia.

Besides contributing to the limited and incongruent literature in pre-context and post-context of CG regulations, the paper also provides important insights for regulators and policy makers of the emerging markets like Malaysia.

Serious case reviews (SCRs) are one means of learning the lessons arising from adverse, salient incidents and tragedies. Adult Safeguarding Boards in England are expected to have an SCR policy and procedure, to commission SCRs, to abstract and act on the learning, and to monitor the resulting action plans.

Since SCRs reflect a wide range of processes, the authors undertook a general review, drawing on their experiences of conducting and contributing to SCRs. They chose to pose sets of question‐prompts regarding the commissioning process, the management of the process, the appointment of a chair and author, the terms of reference, information‐sharing, confidentiality, involving relatives and making findings public. The compliance of the process with human rights legislation is also considered.

Whilst the authors acknowledge the responsibility of organisations to promote continuous and cumulative professional learning, they do not promote SCRs as the sole means of learning about the ways in which professionals and agencies work together to safeguard adults at risk of abuse.

The paper challenges the perception that SCR can be streamlined, structured, codified, and constrained.

Corporate governance research suggests that board structure can impact organizational outcomes such as financial performance and executive remuneration. Agency theory posits that a board composed of independent directors and chaired by an independent chairperson can provide effective control over agency costs, while stewardship theory suggests that effective decision-making is facilitated when the board is chaired by the CEO and majority of directors are from the executive team. Empirical research into the association between board structure and performance in Jordan has provided mixed results, with no consensus supporting either theory. This study takes a different approach to researching the assumed association between board structure and performance by surveying directors’ perspectives on such assumed relationship between financial performance and four of boards’ characteristics (i.e., board independence, CEO duality, board size, and female ratio on board). Findings of this research indicate that Jordanian directors perceive a medium to strong association between financial performance and each of board independence, independent chair of board, and female ratio on board. However, directors of Jordanian boards perceive no association between financial performance and board size.