New Zealand Corporate Boards in Transition: Composition, Activity and Incentives Between 1995 and 2010

Abstract

We document describe and interpret changes in New Zealand corporate board characteristics between 1995 and 2010 a period centred around the 2003 introduction of the NZX Corporate Governance Best Practice Code. Unsurprisingly the representation of non-executive independent and female directors on NZ boards rose during the period as did real chair and director fees and the importance of board committees while average board size fell. Perhaps more surprisingly much of this movement occurred before 2003. However the magnitude of these changes frequently varies according to firm size and there are some intriguing differences between New Zealand board characteristics and those prevailing in other larger countries. We use this information to identify an number of unanswered questions about New Zealand corporate boards.