Corporate Governance and Financial Performance: The Case of Australia and Sri Lanka

Puwanenthiren Pratheepkanth, Samanthala Hettihewa and Christopher S. Wright

This study analyses the correlation between Board attributes and company performance in a sample of 100 Australian and 100 Sri Lankan firms. The analysed Board attributes include size; gender ratio; fraction of non-independent members; and experience. The level of economic development considered to have a potential confounding effect on the outcomes. The analysis of the data suggest that: Boards in Australia are much larger than Boards in Sri Lanka; Boards are male dominated in both nations; and while Board structure provides predictive insight into firm performance, only a few individual attributes are significant. Important finding of this research is that the larger Boards of Australia have a significantly stronger influence on firm performance than the relatively smaller Boards of Sri Lanka. Future research should extend the review of the effects of Board size on corporate performance.

Key Words: Board structure, Board size, Independent directors, and Firm performance

JEL Codes: G30, G34 and G38

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.21102/graf.2016.03.71.01