This study examines the relationship between earnings management and characteristics of corporate governance mechanism for a sample of Jordanian non-financial firms during the period 2006-2009. Earnings management is measured by discretionary accruals using Jones models. The characteristics examined are the existence of independence members within the board of directors, the size of the board of directors, the role duality (CEO/chairman), the percentage of insider ownership. In addition, two controlled variables have been employed in this study: size of the company and financial leverage.The results of this study reveal that the size of board of directors is the only variable that has a significant relation with earnings management. The findings of this study have important policy implications since they support encouraging applying corporate governance principles in order to control the behaviors of the board of directors which may lead to distortion in reported financial annual reports. As a result, the reliability and transparency of reported financial statements may be enhanced.

Purpose – This paper aims to witness the importance of corporate governance mechanisms and investigates the relationship between the quality of disclosure of forward-looking information in the narrative sections of annual reports and the governance mechanisms for non-financial UK companies. Design/methodology/approach – Computerized content analysis using QSR NVivo 8 is used to measure the extent of forward-looking information in the narratives of the annual reports for 238 companies listed in the London Stock Exchange. Cross-sectional regression analysis is used to examine the impact of the corporate governance mechanisms on forward-looking information. Findings – The results show that board size and the independence of the audit committee are associated with the level of voluntary disclosure of forward-looking information. Research limitations/implication – One limitation of this study is that in controls for the effect of the financial crisis period, by selecting a representative year for a five-year period, 2006. The authors argument in using this year is based on the fact that the main variables of interest do not vary significantly with time, the cross-sectional analysis of the selected period will provide a fair view of the last five year-period. Practical implications – The authors report the importance of some governance practices in the UK, such as the role of the board members as well as the importance of audit committee independence. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the literature by using computerized content analysis to examine the relation between corporate governance mechanism and disclosure quality of forward-looking information using sample of companies before financial crisis period. The authors also examine governance mechanisms that are under-researched in the field of forward-looking disclosure.

This research examines the possible association between ownership structure and Jordanian industrial public shareholding companies' dividend payout policy. The present study examines the payout behavior of dividends for Jordanian industrial public shareholding companies over the period [2005][2006][2007]. The results consistently support that there is positive and significant relation between foreign ownership structure and the dividends payout policy through Tobin's Q. However, the results document significant relationship between foreign ownership structure, company size and debt ratio and dividends policy measured by return on assets (ROA).

The main objective of the study is to investigate factors that may affect the CEO compensation in developing countries namely in Jordan. In order to achieve this objective, a sample of 266 industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange during the period 2005-2010 was used to examine the determinants of compensation of CEO. The findings of regression analysis revealed that CEO compensation is strongly affected by company's size and CEO tenure, where CEOs with long tenure or in large firms are more compensated. Results also showed that the board of directors is influenced by the presence of the CEO among them in deciding his/her compensation. However, results revealed a significant inverse relationship between CEO age and CEO compensation. This result is largely consistent with many of the guidelines for improving corporate governance that have been recently promulgated by various groups.

This study investigates the level of conservatism in accounting policies and examines its effect on earnings management for a sample of 259 Jordanian Manufacturing companies during the period 2006-2009. The results indicate that there are differences on the level of conservatism between companies. Furthermore, the results of this study reveal that conservatism and size are negatively related to earnings management, whereas performance found to be positively related to earnings management.