Board structure and the informativeness of earnings

This study draws on prior research on corporate governance and examines whether the informativeness of earnings, proxied by the earnings–returns relationship, varies with the fraction of outside directors serving on the board and board size. The results suggest that earnings of firms with the smallest boards in the sample (with a minimum of five board members) are perceived as being more informative by market participants. By contrast, there is no evidence that board composition mitigates the earnings–returns relation. Policy implications are discussed.