Unlocking firm performance and value through investment efficiency: The moderating role of corporate governance quality

The purpose of the paper is to select the right market proxy for calculating the expected return, since critically evaluating proxies or selecting the correct proxy market portfolio is essential for portfolio management because the change in the market portfolio proxy affects returns. In this study, monthly data of equity indices are evaluated to find out the better market proxy. The indices taken are BSE 30 (Sensex), Nifty 50, BSE 100, BSE 200, and BSE 500. The macroeconomic variables used in the study are industrial production index (IIP), consumer price index (CPI), money supply (M1), and exchange rate in India. To avoid the influence of COVID-19, the research period was from January 2013 to December 2019 to critically evaluate these proxies in order to find the most appropriate market proxy. This paper reveals a noteworthy relationship between stock market returns and macroeconomic factors, while suggesting that the BSE 500 is a better choice for all equity indices, as the index also shows a significant relationship with all macroeconomic variables. BSE500 is a composite index comprising all sectors with low, mid and large cap securities, therefore it reflects the impact of macroeconomic factors most efficiently, taking it as a market proxy. This study was carried out in the context of India and can be replicated for other countries.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance is critical in mitigating climate change. Energy companies must include ESG practices in their business plans because they can determine firm value. This study investigates the impact of ESG and firm size on firm value in Indonesian energy sector, which is moderated by profitability through return on assets. This study uses a sample of 19 energy companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2016 to 2022. A panel data regression model is applied to estimate the impact of ESG practices and firm size on firm value with the moderating role of return on assets. The study results found that ecological, social, and governance disclosure in the model with return on assets as a moderator independently positively impacts firm value but not vice versa. The interaction between return on assets and ESG practices has no impact on firm value, which means that the role of return on assets as a moderator cannot strengthen the influence of ESG and firm size on firm value. Return on assets positively impacts firm value if it acts as an independent variable without a moderator. Firm size independently has a negative impact on firm value but has no effect if it interacts with return on assets. The implications of the empirical findings provide recommendations for policymakers, corporate management, investors, and academics. Environmental, social, and governance disclosure practices are essential to pay attention to as they can improve sustainability performance and firm value in the energy sector of Indonesia.

Acknowledgment
Acknowledgments are expressed to the Directorate General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology, Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology for the Funding Assistance for the Master’s Thesis Research Grant Scheme [Contract Number: 01-1-4/675/SPK/VII/2024].

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between different audit committee attributes and company performance in Bahrain. This paper investigates the impact of audit committee independence, size, and meeting frequency on company performance (employing ROE, ROA, and Tobin’s Q). Data from all 14 non-financial publicly listed companies on Bahrain Bourse during 2005–2019 were used. The results revealed that companies with independent audit committees and big audit committees in terms of size are performing poorly. It is also shown that the number of audit committee meetings does not affect company performance. Further, this study failed to find any association between the number of audit committee meetings and company performance. The findings show that shareholders might lack knowledge of the importance of corporate governance mechanisms. The results of this study should be of potential interest to different stakeholders, including regulators, investors, and auditors, in their attempts to improve company performance and monitoring mechanisms in emerging economies.