A study of corporate governance and its matters

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship of all corporate governance indicators with firm performance (proxied by price to book value ratio) and tax fees. Using a sample of 133 large U.S firms over the period 2005 to 2009, we explore the correlation of price to book value with board of director's structure (composition and size). Our results show that smaller and younger boards with less independent directors lead to a higher firm performance. We further find that the presence of women on board is important rather than their number. The outcome of the study shows also that financial expertise of audit committee members has a significant and positive influence on the amount of tax fees. Overall, the results suggest that board characteristics are important and they influence firm performance.