The impact of corporate governance on the performance of large listed American companies

Abstract

In an environment where competition is becoming increasingly fierce, the primary concern of entities is to find effective solutions to cope with the risks to which they are exposed. In this context, through the entire collection of mechanisms available to corporate governance, companies can limit their risk exposure and thus achieve their goals more quickly. This research aims to study the relationship between the characteristics of corporate governance and the financial performance of the top 65 listed American companies. The research was carried out over a period of 5 years (2015-2019). Regarding the characteristics of corporate governance, four variables were used: the duality of the CEO, the size of the Board of Directors, the independence of the Board, and the frequency of its meetings. In addition, to reflect financial performance, we tracked the rate of financial return (ROE) and return on assets (ROA). The data were processed using the SPSS statistical program, using multiple linear regressions as the quantitative method. The analysis results indicate the existence of a significant positive relationship between the variable of corporate governance represented by the frequency of Board meetings and the financial performance expressed by ROA and ROE. However, variables relating to the duality of the CEO, the size and the independence of the Board were statistically insignificant.