Top management compensation and the KMV default risk in China

Abstract

Although the Chinese economy has achieved an extraordinary rate of growth over recent decades, accompanied by the absorption of considerable amounts of foreign investment, the laws pertaining to business in China are clearly failing to keep pace with the country’s market growth. Investors must therefore carefully assess the associated risks in what is now considered to be the most important of all emerging markets. This study examines the relationship between default risk and top management compensation in the Chinese stock market, with the results revealing that lower levels of top management compensation are accompanied by a greater likelihood of default. This result provides investors and debt holders with greater information on the potential default risk of firms and the important role played by top managers in the Chinese stock market.

Keywords and phrases:

• Default risk
• top management compensation
• Chinese stock market
• emerging market
• corporate governance