An empirical evaluation of factors differentiating governance regulations across economies

Corporate governance has greater relevance especially in the wake of financial turmoil spillover effects to other countries across the economies. Specific governance characteristics such as board structure, board size, identification of board members and committees constituting governance board are differentiated across selected countries. This study examines four factors namely economic status, legal system, democratic status and culture. The regulatory requirement specified by each country in the sample is analyzed examining the similarities and differences identified. The research hypotheses were analyzed using Kruskal Wallis test. System of corporate governance is influenced with respect to compliance of legal system across countries. Number of committees present in the governance board differs with respect to the legal system and democratic status followed across countries. Regulatory compliance of financial expertise of directors and other specific criteria of audit committee members have been differentiated by factors such as economic status, legal system and democratic status.