This paper investigates the relationship between corporate governance quality and the cost of equity capital, intended as the discount rate the market applies to a firm's expected future cash flows to evaluate the current share price. Using data from the Italian listed corporations in 2018, this paper combines several attributes like board independence, board size, the existence of the internal audit, and CEO duality incorporated in a corporate governance quality index. Our results do not provide evidence of a statistically significant relationship between the corporate governance score and the firm's equity capital cost. A possible explanation is that in recent years a greater homogeneity, and a generalized increase in corporate governance quality standards, has been observed in the Italian framework with worse companies that closed the gap with those with higher performances. Hence, lower variability in the corporate governance index results in a not significant effect of a composite index on reducing the cost of equity capital.

Bertoncelli, F., Fandella, P., Sironi, E., The Relationship between Governance Quality and the Cost of Equity Capital in Italian Listed Firms: An Update, <<JOURNAL OF RISK AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT>>, 2021; 14 (3): 1-16. [doi:10.3390/jrfm14030131] [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/179440]

The Relationship between Governance Quality and the Cost of Equity Capital in Italian Listed Firms: An Update

Fandella, Paola;Sironi, Emiliano
2021

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between corporate governance quality and the cost of equity capital, intended as the discount rate the market applies to a firm's expected future cash flows to evaluate the current share price. Using data from the Italian listed corporations in 2018, this paper combines several attributes like board independence, board size, the existence of the internal audit, and CEO duality incorporated in a corporate governance quality index. Our results do not provide evidence of a statistically significant relationship between the corporate governance score and the firm's equity capital cost. A possible explanation is that in recent years a greater homogeneity, and a generalized increase in corporate governance quality standards, has been observed in the Italian framework with worse companies that closed the gap with those with higher performances. Hence, lower variability in the corporate governance index results in a not significant effect of a composite index on reducing the cost of equity capital.
2021
Inglese
Bertoncelli, F., Fandella, P., Sironi, E., The Relationship between Governance Quality and the Cost of Equity Capital in Italian Listed Firms: An Update, <<JOURNAL OF RISK AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT>>, 2021; 14 (3): 1-16. [doi:10.3390/jrfm14030131] [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/179440]
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
BertoncelliFandellaSironiJRFM_2021.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia file ?: Versione Editoriale (PDF)
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 323.55 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
323.55 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10807/179440
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 1
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 1
social impact