Title: The influence of corporate governance on corporate performance: evidence from Palestine

Authors: Yousef M. Hassan; Kamal Naser; Rafiq H. Hijazi

Addresses: Al Ain University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box: 64141, Al Ain, UAE ' Kuwait Fund, 36 Amesbury Road, Penylan, Cardiff CF23 5DX, UK ' Al Ain University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box: 64141, Al Ain, UAE

Abstract: The objective of this study is to explore the relationship between corporate performance and corporate governance by companies listed on the Palestinian Stock Exchange. Accounting and market performance measures were used to proxy corporate performance. Corporate governance represented by the board of directors' size, the frequency of the annual meetings of the board, existence or otherwise of an audit committee, institutional investors ownership and foreign ownership. To achieve the objective of the study, all non-financial companies listed on the exchange and published their annual reports during the period between 2010 and 2012 were used. The result of the analysis revealed that corporate performance is negatively associated with corporate governance. This implies that the result is inconsistent with agency theory. This might be due to the fact that corporate governance in Palestine is still at its infancy stage.

Keywords: corporate governance; corporate performance; Palestine; accounting performance measures; market performance measures; stock markets; board of directors; board size; annual meetings; audit committees; institutional investor ownership; foreign ownership; agency theory.

DOI: 10.1504/AAJFA.2016.079296

Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting, 2016 Vol.6 No.3, pp.269 - 287

Received: 29 Jun 2015
Accepted: 29 Jan 2016
Published online: 26 Sep 2016 *

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