Corporate governance analysts and firm value: Australian evidence

This paper replicates the UK findings in Lehmann (2019) and examines the value implication of corporate governance analysts in the Australian setting. Theoretically, corporate governance analysts create firm value via monitoring the management, enhancing information production and dissemination, and increasing investor recognition. However, we do not find this effect in Australia. Using an exogenous increase in coverage by corporate governance analysts, we find that unlike the case with UK firms, corporate governance analysts do not have any significant effect on firm value in Australia. Different sample compositions, macroeconomic conditions, and institutional settings might be the possible reasons for our insignificant results.