Abstract—The aim of this study is to examine the impact of
board characteristics and firm performance. Specifically we
test the effects of board meeting, board independence, board
size and directors accounting expertise on firm accounting
performance. The paper uses both financial and non-financial
data from annual reports of the 700 public listed firms in
Malaysia for the year 2009. The result shows that board
independence does not affect firm performance, whilst board
size and board accounting/financial expertise are positively
associated with firm performance. Board diligence in terms of
board meetings is found to have an adverse effect on firm
performance. These findings provide some implication for
future research on the effectiveness of board directors on firm
performance.
Index Terms—Corporate governance, board characteristics,
board meeting, board independence, accounting expertise and
firm performance.
S. K. Johl is with the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Management &
Humanities Department, Bandar Sri Iskandar, 31750, Perak, West Malaysia
(e-mail: satier@ petronas.com.my).
S. Kaur and B. J. Cooperis are with the University Deakin, School of
Accounting, Economics and Finance, Melbourne, Australia (e-mail:
shireenjit.johl@deakin.edu.au, barry.cooper@deakin.edu.au).
[PDF]
Cite: Satirenjit Kaur Johl, Shireenjit Kaur, and Barry J. Cooper, "Board Characteristics and Firm Performance: Evidence
from Malaysian Public Listed Firms," Journal of Economics, Business and Management vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 239-243, 2015.