Corporate governance and firm performance in an emerging market - An exploratory analysis of Pakistan

Abstract

This preliminary study aims to develop a corporate governance index based on governance practices followed by the listed firms at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). Since the corporate governance concept is at very initial level of its implementation and practices, this study also analyses the structure of good corporate governance practices and level of awareness about new regulations of corporate governance implemented by Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan. The data is collected through a structured questionnaire covering seven corporate governance categories: audit committee, board of directors, charter/bylaws, director education, executive and director compensation, ownership, and the progressive practices during the year 2004. The results indicate that all of the firm performance measures; return on equity, net profit margin, sales growth and dividend yield (except Tobin’s Q) have their expected positive relation with corporate governance index score (Gov-Score) and are significant in correlation and decile analysis. This suggests that firms with relatively poor governance are relatively less profitable, less valuable, and pay less cash to their shareholders. The role of audit and board of director are highly associated with good performance while the governance categories related to director’s education and charter/bylaws are least associated with good performance