Financial Structure, Managerial Compensation and Monitoring
30 Pages Posted: 4 Dec 2006
Date Written: June 2007
Abstract
When a firm has external debt and monitoring by shareholders is essential, managerial bonuses are shown to be an optimal solution. A small managerial bonus linked to firm's performance not only reduces moral hazard between managers and shareholders, but also between creditors and monitoring shareholders. A negative relation between corporate bond yields and managerial bonuses can be predicted. Furthermore, the model shows how higher managerial pay-performance sensitivity goes hand in hand with greater company leverage and lower company diversification. These predictions find some support in the empirical literature.
Keywords: Managerial Compensation, Financial Structure, Monitoring, Diversification
JEL Classification: G320, M120
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation