The Level of Compliance with Corporate Governance Requirements in Companies Listed in Tehran Stock Exchange

Strong corporate governance (CG) practice is now a sine qua non in corporations due to its benefits to all stakeholders. The objective of this study was to assess the level of compliance of the requirements in the CG reporting under the suggested list provided by Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), and to investigate the CG determinants that drive the level of the compliance of CG in Iran. The study covered 68 companies listed on the TSE, First Market. The analysis is performed based on publicly available information for the year ended March 19, 2020. In order to assess the level of compliance with the CG requirements, a checklist is compiled in 3 sections, based on the requirements indicated in the Iran Corporate Governance Code (2019). In order to determine the level of compliance with the CG requirements, this study has followed the non-weighting approach in which all items are assumed equally important. Finally, we ran a multivariate regression model to investigate the relationship between dependent (CGI) and independent variables. The findings revealed an average level of 48% of compliance. Considering the lowest level of compliance is reported in the financial and operational reporting (40.92) followed by (52.08) in the company bodies, while the highest level is reported in the internal controls (52.7). The results showed that variables such as the firm size, free float, board structure and audit firm size have significant positive impact on the level of compliance, while the percentage of institutional ownership have no significant influence.