A Study of the Relationship between Cross-listed Canadian Companies, Corporate Governance, CEO/Chairman Duality and Firm Performance
Dr. Peter DelPiano, Dr. Claudette Chin-Loy

Abstract
Many studies have examined the role of corporate governance, CEO/chairman duality, and board composition as each relates to shareholder value. There have also been numerous studies on cross-listed companies, foreign firms listed on a U.S. exchange, to determine what benefits or costs are derived from listing on the U.S. as well as the home market. No studies have been done with statistics completely post Sarbanes-Oxley. Therefore, the increases in reporting requirements have not been taken into consideration by previous studies. The purpose of this paper is to study Canadian firms listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) cross-listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for the years 2005 – 2007 versus Canadian only listed firms to examine the effect of Sarbanes-Oxley on shareholder value. The key research questions in this study are as follows: do Canadian companies that become cross-listed add firm value after a three year period? Is there a difference in corporate governance between Canadian only and cross-listed Canadian stocks?The data was collected for the years 2005 through 2007. The sample for the study consisted of Canadian firms listed on the TSX that were cross-listed on the NYSE. The final sample consisted of 31 companies of the 79 that are cross-listed. These companies were matched with TSX only listed firms according to industry. The results indicated the percentage of inside directors is significantly higher for TSX only listed companies. The independence of the board is expected to increase due to a greater percentage of outside board members anticipated for companies cross-listed. The results show that the percentage of inside directors is significantly higher for TSX only listed companies. Duality of the CEO/chairman is expected to be higher with TSX listed firms and this did not prove to be statistically significant from the results of this study.

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