Impact of Institutional Governance Tools on Reducing Agency Costs to Commercial Banks Listed in the Amman Stock Exchange

Abstract

This study aims to identify the Impact of institutional governance tools on reducing agency costs in the banks listed in Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). To this end, the researcher has studied the impact of an institutional governance tools on reducing the agency costs. Which are: board of directors` size, board of directors` independent members ratio, number of audit committee meetings, ratio of debt-financing, market share and bank`s size.

The agency costs are measured by three indicators: assets turnover ratio, operating expenses ratio and free cash flow indicator. Study sample comprises all 16 banks listed in the ASE, for which data are available in the ASE during period of the study (2017 – 2019). EXCEL and SPSS are used to identify descriptive characteristics of study and analyze data. Regression analysis method is also used to test the study hypotheses. 

The study results have concluded that agency costs increase with the increase in the board of directors size, the independent members ratio, number of meetings of audit committees, debt finance ratio and market share ratio. The study has also concluded, as per the operating expenses indicator, that agency costs increase with the increase of debt financing, while they decrease with the increase in the board of directors size. According to the free cash flow indicator, the study results have showed that the agency costs increase with increase in the board of directors size.