• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.11
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• pp.291-301
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• 2020

This paper aims to investigate the impact of chief executive officer's (CEO) attributes on firms' performance. Specifically, it examines the influence of CEOs' education, professional experience, and tenure on Saudi firms' performance. We look at a sample of 120 listed firms on Tadawul stock exchange from 2014 to 2017. Data on financial and accounting variables are obtained from the annual reports of the selected companies. We follow the existing empirical literature and use a panel model and formulate three different equations using the GMM estimator. Findings prove that CEO educational background does matter. In particular, companies employing CEOs with business administration, economics, finance, or accounting degree will perform outstandingly better. Similarly, stock performance gets improved when the CEO has a postgraduate qualification, i.e., when the CEO holds an MBA, a master, or a PhD degree. Besides, results reveal that executives who have an experience in a related field will positively affect the firm's performance. Finally, evidence shows that high CEOs tenure improves corporate performance. Overall, these findings demonstrate that executives' attributes are key factors that would explain differences in Saudi firms' performance. These results would help shareholders to make the right decision in selecting CEOs to manage the company.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.323-331
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• 2021

This paper examines the relationship between ownership structure and level cash holdings in an emerging country, namely, Saudi Arabia, by constructing a corporate governance mechanism (foreign ownership, family ownership, institutional and managerial ownership). This paper uses data from 100 listed firms at Saudi Stock Exchange (TADAWUL) from 2011 to 2019. The firm's decision to hold cash has come to the fore in the last two or three years as a result of the recent global financial crisis, and the impact that this has had on the firms' ability to raise funds from external sources. Using the random-effect generalized least square (GLS) regression model, the findings reveal that foreign and family ownership negatively influences cash holdings, while managerial ownership has a positive association with cash holdings. Further, institutional ownership did not have a direct effect on cash holdings in Saudi Arabia. Our results suggest that ownership structure include foreign ownership, family and managerial ownership is an essential vehicle to promote the performance of cash holding of all the 100 public-listed non-financial firms in Saudi Arabia. We recommend that sound policies should be targeted toward foreign ownership, family, and managerial ownership since they are essential to improve cash holding in Saudi Arabian firms.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.99-108
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• 2023

This study's goal is to investigate the effects of board size, the number of annual board meetings, the profitability of the company, and the audit Committee on the disclosure of climate change in Saudi companies listed on the stock exchange. It was conducted to evaluate affecting some factors on carbon emissions by the regression model. The study uses the content analysis method. Data was collected from the annual and sustainability reports, and the platform database Refinitiv, an LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group Company) for the period 2018 to 2021. The study sample is 51 companies. The study findings showed Saudi Arabia saw its first significant overall drop in CO2 emissions with a 22.61 MtCO2 decline (3.93%) in 2018. The study revealed a positive connection between the size of the director's board, and the disclosure of carbon emissions in Saudi firms listed on the stock market. While other factors are not related to the number of director's board meetings, the audit committee, and the profitability of the company on the disclosure of carbon emissions in the Saudi companies listed on the stock exchange.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.274-284
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• 2022

By explaining the essence of corporate governance as well as disclosure and transparency, the study examined the guarantees of applying disclosure and transparency to firms listed on the Saudi stock exchange. The research also addressed the disclosure and transparency duties of firms listed on the Saudi stock exchange. Finance to prepare a prospectus, as the Capital Market Authority's regulations required that the prospectus includes information that enables the investor in securities to make his investment decision based on real foundations based on the issuing company's financial position and to ensure that companies fulfill that disclosure in the prospectus. Firms who fail to disclose are required by law to do so, and the Capital Market Authority's laws mandate companies listed on the financial market to regularly report fundamental events linked to the issuer or the securities issued by it. The Capital Market Authority must make it available to the public dealing with the business issuing the securities, and The Capital Market Authority's Law and Regulations have imposed fines on corporations that do not comply with disclosure and make the Board of Director's report available. The research focused on activities that the legislator deemed to be a breach of the obligation of openness, such as the danger of many measures aimed at ensuring the impartiality and transparency of trading in the Saudi financial market, as well as the absence of conflicts of interest. The research also addressed the sanctions imposed on The source for failing to meet the obligation of disclosure and openness, as well as the mechanisms of compensating persons harmed by the failure to meet that responsibility.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.297-302
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• 2022

The current study examines the relationship between inventory management efficiency and financial performance in Saudi Arabian companies. The study collected data from the companies listed on Tadawul (a Saudi Arabian stock exchange) during the period starting from 2016 and ending in 2020. The study uses pooled regression model by incorporating Return on Assets (ROA) and Inventory Turnover Ratio (ITR) as a performance measurement variable and inventory conversion period as an inventory management variable to report the results. The results show a positive and significant association between inventory management and firms' financial growth measured in terms of Return on Assets (ROA). Further, the study reports a positive and significant association between the inventory conversion period and inventory turnover (ITR). This shows that managing inventory efficiently shall positively impact the firm's performance. The other variables, such as debt ratio and gross profit, are positively related to ROA and negatively correlated with ITR. The firm growth is positively associated with both the dependent variables. The results suggest that the management of inventory in Saudi Arabian firms is efficient. Further, the firm size is positively associated with ROA and ITR. This shows a nexus between inventory management efficiency and firms' financial growth in Saudi Arabian companies.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.8
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• pp.259-268
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• 2020

The study investigates the association between CEO education and firm performance with a sample of 85 nonfinancial firms listed on the Saudi stock exchange during 2018 applying ordinary least squares method. CEO education is defined by three variables, the level of education, if the degree-granting institution is domestic or foreign, and if the highest degree is in management or other fields of study. Financial performance is measured by return on assets and return on equity. Firm size, age, liquidity and growth are introduced as control variables. The study shows that 58 CEOs of the firms studied are graduates, 38 have obtained their degree from a domestic institution and 44 have a management degree. Graduate CEOs are found to enhance performance. Graduating from a domestic institution influences performance positively. Management degree of CEO does not seem to impact performance. Firm size, liquidity and growth are positively associated with performance. Firm age does not explain performance differences of firms. Results are robust to performance measures. The findings of the study suggest that firms can benefit from a CEO hiring policy that emphasizes on the minimum qualification set as graduation or higher, education from a domestic institution and no undue weight on management qualification.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.363-368
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• 2021

This study attempts to examine whether ownership of government-controlled corporations and audit committee effectiveness are related. The population of this study is 431 listed manufactured firms in the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) for the period 2012-2019 that published their financial and annual reports for the period 2012-2019. This population criterion is based on considerations that manufacturing companies listed on Tadawul have publicly accessible data and they have greater obligations to implement corporate governance code. Using the complementary hypothesis, this study predicts that there is a positive relationship between the ownership of government-controlled companies and audit committee effectiveness. The Pooled OLS regression shows that government-controlled companies' ownership is positively associated with audit committee effectiveness. Our study also indicates that ownership of government-controlled companies as a governance monitoring mechanism becomes more effective as it is combined with audit committee effectiveness which is another governance monitoring mechanism. The results of this study provide insightful evidence to policymakers at the company and country levels on the relationship of government-corporate ownership and audit committee effectiveness.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.365-373
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• 2021

This paper investigates the presence of momentum profits in the Saudi stock market. The study applied a quantitative method by utilizing monthly closing prices of 194 listed firms on Tadawal (Saudi Stock Market). The data from January 2010 to February 2019 is taken from the Tadawal market database for analysis. The sample is further divided into two equal sub-samples based on the structural changes that occurred in the Saudi stock market. Moreover, the high- and low-value traded portfolios are also constructed to examine the presence of momentum profits. Sixteen investment strategies are formed for each sample. The results show a very strong presence of momentum profits in the Saudi stock market for the full sample as well as for the sub-samples. The momentum profits are observed for a longer investment horizon. The results confirm that the short or medium-term formation of portfolios produces negative momentum returns for high-value traded stocks. The low-value traded stocks portfolios give similar results to the full sample results in terms of momentum profits. The results suggest that an investor should keep an eye on the past performance of desired stocks for at least three-nine months in which they are willing to invest.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.143-152
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• 2022

This paper examines the relationship between investor sentiment and the risk of a stock price crash at the firm level. Our dataset includes 131 firms listed on the Saudi stock exchange (Tadawul) from 2011 to 2019, as well as 953 firm-year observations. To evaluate crash risk, we employ two distinct proxies and propose an index for measuring firm-level sentiment which we use for the first time in our study. The average turnover rate, price-earnings ratio, and overnight return are the three sentiment proxies we utilize in our index. Our findings show that high levels of investor emotion increase managers' proclivity to withhold unfavorable news from investors, which aggravates the risk of a stock price crash. We undertake cross-sectional regressions by sector to ensure the robustness of our findings, and our findings are confirmed. After accounting for any endogeneity issues with the GMM technique, the results remain the same. Furthermore, we analyze the liquidity effect by dividing our sample into subsamples with better and worse liquidity and find that firms with worse liquidity have a considerably greater positive impact of investor mood. Overall, our findings help investors and regulators recognize the significance of this downside risk and how to manage it in the stock market.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.297-304
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• 2020

This paper applies the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to compute the managerial efficiency of 30 insurance companies listed on the Saudi stock exchange for the duration of four years from 2015 to 2018. The companies taken as a sample of study included both conventional and Takaful insurance companies. The insurance sector of KSA is one of the largest sectors in the country, contributing a substantial percentage in the non-oil economy. Efficiency measurement and evaluation will provide a venue to introspect and benchmark frontiers to the sector. In the present study, we have utilized the basic Banker Charnes Cooper and Charnes Copper Rhodes models of DEA. Two inputs, namely, general & administrative expenses and policy & acquisition costs, and two outputs (Net premium earned and Investment Income & other incomes) were taken for efficiency calculations. The final outcomes of the study reveal that a good number of insurance companies operating in KSA are found to be efficient on managerial efficiency scale. Three firms remain the leader on the frontier of the managerial efficiency. And no company found with zero (0) efficiency or a negative efficiency. It is expected that the outcome of the study will provide benchmarks to managers and a road map to further improvement.