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Comments on the lack of literature on trustees in higher education. Suggests three important areas that determine individual trustee effectiveness: the trustee’s knowledge, the trustee’s contribution to his or her institution and the trustee’s relationships. Insights derived from this study can be used to develop instruments that boards can use for periodical evaluation of individual trustee effectiveness.

This chapter describes a number of the ethical, political, and sustainability implications inherent in the investment process; clarifies when and to what extent these implications can manifest themselves; and examines the circumstances under which trustees might wish to consider the relation these implications to the management of their assets.

The arguments made in the chapter are theoretical and based on analyses of historical concepts of fiduciary duty and investment management.

The chapter concludes that in seeking to achieve their primary tasks of acting in beneficiaries’ interests and preserving assets and income, trustees may wish to consider the ethical, political, and sustainability implications of their investment decisions in the light of broadly accepted norms or scientific consensus. If trustees choose to incorporate these considerations, their decisions should be commensurate with the levels of concern raised by these issues, be potentially effective, not impair financial goals, and not require excessive expenditure of resources.

The conclusions of the chapter imply that trustees acting on beneficiaries’ behalf may wish to assess the broad-based, value-creation potential of their investment decisions along with the potential of these decisions to impact portfolio performance relative to asset-specific benchmarks. Considerations of value creation can be in beneficiaries’ interests to the extent that they contribute to strong economies, safe and livable societies, and the preservation or enhancement of natural resources. Additional research is needed to elaborate on how consideration of these types of value creation affects asset allocation and specific security selection, along with its impacts on short-term and long-term financial returns.

This chapter reflects on the role of ethical, political, and sustainability (EPS) concerns in investment processes. Specifically it considers why, when, and how EPS concerns might be considered by trustees.

This study investigates whether there are relationships between the characteristics of the boards of trustees of universities in the Arab region, higher education quality assurance and the output of scientific research.

The descriptive analytical approach was used in this study. The study was conducted on the universities of the Arab region that are included in the classification of the British Institution for the Arab Region: QS Arab Region University.

The findings show that there is an effect of the characteristics of the trustees combined in the universities of the Arab region on ensuring the quality of higher education, other than the output of scientific research. The findings also indicate when measuring the characteristics individually that the trustee system is not effective in the Arab region and it is only formal for nominal purposes.

Most universities in the Arab region do not disclose the data of boards of trustees, their roles, committees, rules of procedure and the nature of their work. A large number of universities also do not operate under the trustee system because the regulations and instructions do not allow this in the country.

This study seeks to improve practitioners knowledge, including boards of trustees, in ensuring the quality of higher education and the output of scientific research.

The research projected the governance model through the characteristics of the boards of directors of for-profit companies on the boards of trustees of universities in the Arab region. The study examines the nature of the characteristics of the boards of trustees that are compatible with its responsibilities, the most important of which is the supervision of the strategy to ensure the quality of higher education research.

This paper aims to investigate the association among trustee board diversity (TBD), corporate governance (CG), capital structure (CS) and financial performance (FP) by using a sample of UK charities. Specifically, the authors investigate the effect of TBD on CS and ascertain whether CG quality moderates the TBD–CS nexus. Additionally, the authors examine the impact of CS on FP and ascertain whether the CS–FP nexus is moderated by TBD and CG quality.

The authors use a number of multivariate regression techniques, including ordinary least squares, fixed-effects, lagged-effects and two-stage least squares, to rigorously analyse the data and test the hypotheses.

First, the authors find that trustee board gender diversity has a negative effect on CS, but this relationship holds only up to the point of having three women trustees. The authors find similar, but relatively weak, results for the presence of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) trustees. Second, the authors find that the TBD–CS nexus depends on the quality of CG, with the relationship being stronger in charities with higher frequency of meetings, independent CG committee and larger trustee and audit firm size. Third, the authors find that CS structure has a positive effect on FP, but this is moderated by TBD and CG quality. The evidence is robust to different econometric models that adjust for alternative measures and endogeneities. The authors interpret the findings within explanations of a theoretical perspective that captures insights from different CG and CS theories.

Existing studies that explore TBD, CG, CS and FP in charities are rare. This study distinctively attempts to address this empirical lacuna within the extant literature by providing four new insights with specific focus on UK charities. First, the authors provide new evidence on the relationship between TBD and CS. Second, the authors offer new evidence on the moderating effect of CG on the TBD-CS nexus. Third, the authors provide new evidence on the effect of CS on FP. Finally, the authors offer new evidence on the moderating effect of TBD and CG on the CS–FP nexus.

Presidential performance is critical to institutional effectiveness. Therefore, to ensure institutional effectiveness, the board of trustees pays careful attention to the qualifications of individuals hired for the job. To guarantee accountability and commensurate rewards, most boards evaluate their presidents periodically. However, presidential evaluation has a potential to yield negative consequences if poorly conceived and implemented. To reduce the chances of these negative consequences, the goal of this study was to investigate indicators of presidential effectiveness as a basis for shared reasoning among trustees who are charged with the responsibility of hiring, assessing, and compensating college and university presidents. Over 600 trustees in all higher education sections participated in this study. The study shows that: knowledge of higher education; an influence that helps to attract resources; a healthy relationship with key constituents; and effective management skills are important indicators of successful presidents. Some sectoral differences were observed in terms of the significance of indicators of presidential effectiveness. The study concludes with recommendations for presidents, and college and university boards of trustees.

This article aims to highlight the gap between the legal responsibilities and the practice of pension fund trustees in Ireland.

The paper relies on primary and secondary data analysis of trustee practice and enforcement cases to highlight the gap between law and practice.

The article finds that there is an inconsistency between legal requirement and practice in the calibre of trustee and trustee training across Irish occupational pension schemes. This has adverse consequences for pension governance and performance.

The findings raise the question as to whether there should be mandatory qualifications for trustees or mandatory standardised trustee training in a prescribed format, with which trustees should comply. It also questions whether there should be a governance code for trustees to ensure a minimum standard or target level of competence and good governance on the part of pension scheme trustees.

There is a distinct lack of emphasis in the literature and in practice on the inconsistency between the extent of the responsibilities which trustees ultimately carry, and the legal exposure this potentially creates for trustees who unduly rely on other trustees or third parties in the trustee decision making process.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how trustees of small English registered charities understand and own the reporting and accounting requirements with which their charities must comply.

The research described is a multi-pronged qualitative and inductive study of three small Yorkshire charities as they approve their annual accounts. The case studies are based on observations of trustee meetings and interviews with a range of trustees and their independent examiner or auditor. The use of a practice lens focuses on the behaviours of individuals to understand the sense that they make of their charity’s accounts.

Trustees' understanding of their financial statements is limited; they tend to rely on key individuals who have knowledge. Group responsibility creates a shared way of understanding the financial statements. Treasurers and independent examiners simplify information for the trustees even resorting to corner cutting and rule bending. Narrative reporting is given very little attention. Trustees read their financial statements as a report to them not by them; accountability notwithstanding, thus ownership of their financial statements is conferred not intrinsic.

The findings are drawn from three specific case studies and therefore cannot be generalised, but they offer rich qualitative insights into small charities’ accounting and reporting.

This research provides a unique multi-viewpoint analysis of charity practices, and through its use of a practice lens dives deeper into examining trustees’ understanding and behaviour.

Behavioral finance research has almost exclusively investigated the decision making of lay individuals, mostly ignoring more sophisticated institutional investors. The purpose of this paper is to better understand the relatively unexplored field of investment decisions made by pension fund trustees, an important subset of institutional investors, and identify future avenues of further exploration.

This paper starts by setting out the landscape in which pension fund trustees operate and make their decisions, followed by a literature review of the extant behavioral finance research applicable to similar situations.

Despite receiving training and accumulating experience in financial markets, these are limited and sparse; therefore, pension fund trustees are unlikely to be immune from behavioral biases. Trustees make decisions in groups, are heavily reliant on advice and make decisions on behalf of others. Research in those areas has uncovered many inefficiencies. It is still unknown how this specific context can affect the psychological effects on their decisions.

Given how much influence trustees’ decisions have on asset allocation and by extension in financial markets, this is a surprising state of affairs. Research in behavioral finance has had a marked influence on policy in the past and so we anticipate that exploring the decisions made within pension funds may have wide ramifications for the industry.

As far as the authors are aware, no behavioral research has empirically tested pension fund trustees’ decisions to investigate how the combination of group decisions, advice and surrogacy influence their decisions and, ultimately, the sustainability of our pensions.

Examines the use and misuse of the term fiduciary responsibility as it applies to trustees and officers of the corporation in universities and colleges. Through research on published applications of the term, reveals that the term is rarely defined yet frequently used as a justification for action or inaction by trustees and officers. Antagonists of decisions sometimes use the term as a rationalization for suggesting action or decisions that should be made by trustees or officers in higher education. Concludes with a proposed definition of fiduciary responsibility that could be useful for trustees and officers and others interested in the concept of fiduciary responsibility.

The paper outlines the duties of unit trust trustees in principal/agent terms. It then discusses the reactions of a number of trustees to the suggestion that they might be acting in breach of trust because of poor performance by the funds for which they are trustees. It concludes by offering suggestions for remedial action by unit trust trustees.