We examine the impact of independent director tenure on corporate transparency. Using a sample of 12,423 firm-year observations from 1997 to 2017, we find that corporate transparency increases in independent director tenure. The results are robust to various variable definitions and model specifications, providing strong evidence supporting the Expertise hypothesis that long-tenured independent directors are better monitors and advisors. We conclude that long-tenured directors benefit firms and their investors by enhancing firm transparency and reducing information risk. Capping independent director tenure is not always beneficial.

中文翻译：

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独立董事任期与公司透明度

我们研究了独立董事任期对公司透明度的影响。使用1997年至2017年对12,423个公司年度观察的样本，我们发现公司透明度在独立董事任期中增加。该结果对于各种变量定义和模型规范均具有鲁棒性，为有力的假设提供了有力的证据，即长期任职的独立董事是更好的监督者和顾问。我们得出的结论是，长期任职的董事通过提高公司的透明度和降低信息风险来使公司及其投资者受益。限制独立董事的任期并不总是有益的。