TY - JOUR TI - Governance codes: facts or fictions? a study of governance codes in Colombia JO - ESTUDIOS GERENCIALES, Vol. 26 No. 117 PB - Universidad Icesi PY - 2011 issn 01235923 AB - This article studies the effects on accounting performance and financing decisions of Colombian firms after issuing a corporate governance code. We assemble a database of Colombian issuers and test the hypotheses of improved performance and higher leverage after issuing a code. The results show that the firms’ return on assets after the code introduction improves in excess of 1%; the effect is amplified by the code quality. Additionally, the firms leverage increased, in excess of 5%, when the code quality was factored into the analysis. These results suggest that controlling parties commitment to self restrain, by reducing their private benefits and/or the expropriation of non controlling parties, through the code introduction, is indeed an effective measure and that the financial markets agree, increasing the supply of funds to the firms. KW - Gobierno corporativo KW - Códigos de gobierno corpotativo KW - Teoría de la agencia KW - Apalancamientos KW - Economía KW - Economics KW - Business KW - Negocios y management UR - http://www.icesi.edu.co/revistas/index.php/estudios_gerenciales/article/view/381 ER -