Agency conflicts between different types of investors are particularly severe in the presence of high family and
block-holder ownership. By focusing on a setting characterised by high ownership concentration, we study the
role of independent directors in promoting transparency through increased disclosure. In our tests, we use a
sample of Spanish firms and, consistent with prior work, show that the presence of these directors is strongly
associated with increased voluntary disclosure. Additionally, we find that when an executive director takes on
Chair responsibilities the level of voluntary information is reduced, creating potential conflicts with the role of
independent directors. Our results suggest that a strong legal framework holds firm-level clashes of interest in
check.We conclude that this regulatory environment can create sufficient incentives to bring together the interests
of minority and majority shareholders and guarantee an efficient monitoring role of independent directors.
However, results suggest that other mechanisms should be reinforced in order to improve the role of governance
control on agency relationships, particularly in the case of the concentration of Chair and executive responsibilitie