Sirca Corporate Governance database

Sirca has been tasked by UTS to manage the ongoing maintenance and development of their Australian corporate governance database (previously known as the “Henry” database). This initiative was started in the late 1990’s and records a wide range of variables for Australian listed companies, including company details, subsidiaries, shareholdings, auditors, directors (independence, remuneration, and committee membership), as well as compensation details including share option and bonus arrangements.

Sirca’s objectives are to make the database available via a flexible and simple user interface, and to work with our membership in order to cooperatively broaden the array of corporate governance attributes available via the database, such that it can become an even more valuable resource for the purposes of research into Australia and NZ company affairs. This database is expected to be formally released in early 2012.

This initiative is a great example of how Sirca can work with member universities to ensure that databases, previously managed and maintained by individual institutions, or small groups of academics, can be leveraged as a resource available to all Sirca members, whilst benfitting from Sirca’s software and data curation expertise.

The value of the Corporate Governance database is evidenced by the work of UTS staff and PhD students over the past years that has referenced the database, including:

Loyeung, A, Z. Matolcsy and P. Wells, 2011, The association between CFO talent and compensation – at CAR

Loyeung, A, J. Weber, Z. Matolcsy and P. Wells, 2011, An analysis of the accounting errors that arise during the transition to IFRS – at JAE

Christy, J, Z. Matolcsy, A. Wright and A. Wyatt, 2011, The association between board characteristics and stock returns for large and small firms – at Abacus

Brown, P, Z. Matolcsy and P. Wells, 2011, Group versus individual compensation schemes for senior executives and firm performance – at CAR

Vanza, S., P. Wells and A. Wright, 2011, Asset impairment and the disclosure of private information – at JBFA – revise and resubmit

Matolcsy, Z. J. Tyler and P. Wells, 2011, The impact of quasi-regulatory reform on boards and their committees during the period 2001-2007, Australian Accounting Review, forthcoming

Matolcsy, Z. J. Tyler and P. Wells, 2011, Is continuous disclosure associated with board independence, Australian Journal of Management, forthcoming

Matolcsy, Z.P. & Wright, A. 2011, ‘CEO compensation structure and firm performance’, Accounting & Finance, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 745-763

Bugeja, M. 2011, ‘Foreign takeovers of Australian listed entities’, Australian Journal of Management, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 89-107

Matolcsy, Z.P., Riddell, S.J. & Wright, A. 2009, ‘Alternative explanations for the association between market values and stock-based compensation expenditure’, Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 95-107

Lim, S., Matolcsy, Z.P. & Chow, D. 2007, ‘The Association Between Board Composition And Different Types Of Voluntary Disclosure’, European Accounting Review, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 555-583

Matolcsy, Z.P. & Wright, A. 2007, ‘Australian CEO compensation: The descriptive evidence’, Australian Accounting Review, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 47-59

Matolcsy, Z.P. & Wright, A. 2006, ‘Are we paying our CEOs too much?’, JASSA, vol. Summer, no. 4, pp. 27-31

Linden, P. & Matolcsy, Z.P. 2004, ‘Corporate governance scoring systems: what do they tell us?’, Australian Accounting Review, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 9-16

Matolcsy, Z.P., Stokes, D. & Wright, A. 2004, ‘Do independent directors add value?’, Australian accounting Review, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 33-40

Please contact us if you would like additional information about the Corporate Governance database, or if you would like to talk to Sirca about how we can help with similar projects which you, or your university are pursuing.