Do ‘good governance’ codes enhance financial accountability? Evidence on managerial pay in Dutch charities

Abstract

This paper examines the initial impact of a ‘good governance’ code for charitable organisations that was promulgated in the Netherlands in 2005. Data are gathered from publicly available annual reports of 138 charities in the post-implementation phase of the code (2005–2008). We first examine whether the code altered charities’ governance structures. Next, we investigate managerial pay as a key aspect of discharging financial accountability because prior literature focused on ‘excessive’ compensation. The findings indicate that a strengthened governance structure positively affects the likelihood of disclosing information concerning managerial pay, as well as mitigating managerial pay level.