The study of the relationship between firms' board of directors' structure and criteria in assessing the firm performance

Abstract

The main purpose in this article is to study the relationship between firms' board of directors’ structure and accounting and economic criteria in assessing the performance of companies listed at Tehran Stock Exchange. To do this, 94 firms from our statistical society were chosen. We had access to the needed information for a period of six years (2004 to 2009) about those firms. Some criteria were chosen as dependent variables as follows: return on investment, stock return yearly and P/B ratio for financial performance assessment criteria and Tobins’Q, market value-added and economical value-added for economic performance assessment criteria have been considered. Then, the data related to independent variables, in which two criteria of firms' board of directors’ structure as ratio of independent members of board of directors and financial specialty of members of board of directors were studied. The research results indicate that there is a positive and meaningful relationship between ratio of independent members of board of directors and financial specialty of members of board of directors with financial and economic criteria in assessing the firm performance. Key words: Corporate governance, board of directors’ structure, financial criteria, economical criteria.