Impact of the board of directors’ structure on the company’s financial results

Abstract

Subject of study — role of corporate governance practices in managing the largest Russian banks. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that decisions affecting financial results of companies depend on socio-demographic characteristics of their decision-makers and technology of these decisions. The Board of Directors is the body that controls the activities of management, and the efficiency of management decisions depends on its structure. The aim of the study is to estimate the influence of socio-demographic characteristics of directors on financial results of banks. In this research the authors use such method as panel regression analysis to estimate the significance of the obtained results. The sample captures the data on 6 largest Russian banks by total assets for the period 2011–2020. As the result, gender board diversity has a positive and statistically significant impact both on ROA and ROE. Meanwhile, the influence of national diversity on ROE is insignificant whereas the effect of this variable on ROA is significant and negative. In addition to board diversity features, business size is also an important determinant of profitability. The negative influence of this indicator should not be understood literally. The largest Russian banks are examined in this article, so the growth in the volume of their assets is associated with a decline in profitability in relative terms. The analysis also reveals that board independence and leverage do not affect profitability. Conclusion confirm a positive influence of board gender diversity on financial performance of Russian banks. Along with that, a negative impact of national diversity and an insignificant impact of board independence refute the results reported by both foreign and Russian authors. Further research on the influence of corporate governance practices on financial performance of Russian companies is required.