Corporate governance received more emphasis in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and its importance amplified. It is defined as the system by which companies are directed and controlled. Sound corporate governance makes companies stronger, more
efficient, and accountable and bolsters the effectuation of sound environmental and social practices. Corporate governance best practices allow firms to mitigate risk, safeguard against mismanagement, and attract investment capital to fuel their growth.
These best practices increase access to markets and lower the cost of capital, which encourages new investments, boosts economic growth, and provides employment opportunities. Companies that operate more efficiently tend to allocate and manage resources more sustainably. Better stakeholder relationships help firms address environmental protection, social, and labour issues. The board effectiveness is essential to corporate governance, since the board serves as the brain of the company, and it sits at the top receiving information, meets to deliberate and scrutinise, then makes and takes decisions that need to be executed by the company's organs. The board, the company's brain, has the ultimate authority and responsibility to provide stewardship, oversight and control, ensures proper transparency and disclosure, and protects the rights of the shareholders, especially the minority. Therefore, the board of directors plays a pivotal role in governing the company and affecting its performance. This doctorate research examines the impact of corporate governance compliance on the financial performance of publicly listed companies in Egypt. It uses a quantitative
design and made use of primary and secondary data in establishing the relationship between corporate governance and financial performance. The research collected and analysed a five-year panel data comprised of all companies publicly listed on the
Egyptian Exchange. Six main attributes of corporate governance were identified as independent variables; board size, CEO duality, gender diversity, board independence, board committees, and frequency of board meetings. Three measures were utilised to
assess the financial performance of companies; return on equity, return on assets, and Tobin's Q. An econometric model was formulated to measure firm performance as the dependent function of corporate governance attributes. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the different variables, generalised least squares (GLS) and generalised method of moments (GMM) estimation techniques tested the effects of the corporate governance attributes on the financial performance of companies. This is the first
research to examine the link between corporate governance and financial performance using the GMM approach in Egypt and in the MENA region. The findings of this doctorate research affirm that corporate governance attributes have a significant impact
on the financial performance of companies and suggest that the financial performance of the past should be considered as an important variable to control for the dynamic nature of the impact of corporate governance on financial performance while
controlling for endogenous variables.