The Impact of Corporate Governance on the Cost of Equity for Russian Companies in the Ohlson Model

Аннотация

The purpose of this paper is to identify key indicators of corporate governance that affect the market value of Russian companies. To this end, we examine the possibility of modifying the Ohlson model of evaluating stock price dynamics in public companies, by adding corporate governance variables that may affect market value.

The study consists of the following stages: the key points of the Ohlson economic model are described, empirical works that demonstrate corporate governance as a factor in assessing the value of companies are presented, and the significance of the modified Ohlson model for the Russian market is evaluated.

The novelty of our methodology is represented in the prioritisation of our “other information” parameter, which is a combination of forecast analytical data and corporate governance indicators. Through analysis of panel data, we estimate differences in the predicted net profit indicator, calculated as the average of analyst forecasts for an individual company for a financial year, and the actual net profit. Corporate governance is represented by the percentage of board members holding professional certificates and licenses, the average term of board of directors members, the share of independent members on the board of directors, the share of independent members in the audit committee, the proportion of women on the board of directors, and the size of the board of directors.

Our results indicate dependence of share prices on the dynamics of the book value of equity, abnormal profits, the share of board members holding professional qualifications, the difference between the actual net profit and the forecast net profit of companies, and the level of gender diversification in the board of directors. The results of our analysis of deviations in average stock prices are comparable to the findings of existing literature examining the markets of Europe, Latin America and Africa.