Corporate Governance Independence in the Board of Directors and The Firms Financial Performance: Empirical Analysis of Cement Sector Firms Listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)

Abstract

The corporate governance measures emphasize on presence of independence of the board of directors to bring objectivity and reducing the agency cost; whereas the institutions have the ability, skills and time to supervise the activities of the management and channelize it to better financial performance. The objective of this study is to explore the effect of independence of the board of directors on the financial performance of the firms. The independence was gauged by number of independent directors and non-executive directors, chairing of board committees by independent directors, institutional holding in the firm, and presence of institutional directors on the board. The financial performance of the firm is gauged using the return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA). The corporate governance and financial performance data comprising of 75 firm years from 2014 to 2018 of the firms listed in the cement sector of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) were selected. GLM regression was performed to study the relationship between the variables. The results suggest that the majority of independence on the board of directors do not affect the financial performance of the firm; the independence in the board committees negatively affects the financial performance, whereas the presence of institutional holding and director in the firm does not have any effect on the performance of the firm. The study will provide a basis for future studies to find the association that independence can bring objectivity, reduce agency cost, and affect the performance of the firm.