Do corporate governance drive firm performance? Evidence from Indonesia

Abstract: This study examines the effect of audit committee characteristics and board diversity on the performance of companies in Indonesia. In addition, this research also explores the effect of the audit committee's characteristics and the board's diversity on the company's performance in various age classifications. The study involves 170 samples of primary and secondary sector firms registered on the Indonesian Stock Exchange from 2014 to 2020, analyzed by data panel regression analysis. The study's main findings disclosed that the audit committee's size and the competence of the financial audit committee are positively influencing the market-based firm performance. However, it does not significantly affect the audit committee's meeting frequency regarding the market-based strong performance. Furthermore, the study discloses that foreign and board gender positively influences market-based firm performance. Such findings benefit policymakers in developing appropriate governance mechanisms in the Indonesian market as a developing country. To the best author's knowledge, this study is the first to comprehensively analyze the association between audit committee characteristics and board diversity on market-based firm performance. Furthermore, no previous study conducted additional analyzes based on firm age in the Indonesian context.