Remuneration Committee Existence and Effectiveness: A Study on Their Impact on Voluntary Narrative Executive Remuneration Disclosure

Abstract

Voluntary disclosure in narrative format is generally seen as an important governance mechanism through which an organisation communicates with its stakeholders to provide information, gain legitimacy and demonstrate accountability. This paper investigates the relationship between the existence of a remuneration committee (RCX) and it’s effectiveness (RCE) on the voluntary disclosure of information relating to executive remuneration action in narrative format. Our study utilises data from Top 200 Australian Securities listed (ASX) firms and focuses on such disclosure during a critical period i.e. the global financial crisis years (2007 to 2011) when executive remuneration came into significant scrutiny. We find both the existence and effectiveness of a remuneration committee plays a significant role in the voluntary disclosure of executive remuneration in narrative format (VDER).

Keywords: corporate governance, global financial crisis, independence, remuneration committee, voluntary disclosure

JEL Classification: G39