Changing board behaviour: The role of the 'Two Strikes' rule in improving the efficacy of Australian Say-on-Pay

Authors

James Borthwick, University of WollongongFollow
Aelee Jun, University of WollongongFollow
Shiguang Ma, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

128490

Publication Details

Borthwick, J., Jun, A. & Ma, S. (2018). Changing board behaviour: The role of the 'Two Strikes' rule in improving the efficacy of Australian Say-on-Pay. Accounting and Finance, Online First 1-50.

Abstract

This article analyses whether the transition from the 2004 CLERP 9 advisory Say-on-Pay regime to the 'Two Strikes' rule in 2012 influenced CEO pay in Australian firms. Analysing a panel of 2,074 firm-years (2005-2015), we find that (i) CEO pay is a positive predictor of shareholder dissent; (ii) firm performance has a reducing effect on shareholder dissent; (iii) excessive shareholder dissent moderated CEO pay under the 'Two Strikes' rule relative to the CLERP 9 regime, and (iv) the market responded favourably to the introduction of the 'Two Strikes' rule and negatively to 'strike' instances after its introduction.