Mwamtambulo, Dorika Jeremiah2020-11-242020-11-242020Mwamtambulo, D. J. (2020). Board characteristics and performance of East Africa companies. in contemporary trends and challenges in finance (pp. 125-146). Springer, Cham.DOI:10.1007/978-3-030-43078-8_11http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12661/2561Abstract. Full text book chapter available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43078-8_11In the management of agency problems, the board of directors is an essential tool for monitoring the activities of the managers. The board of directors has specific characteristics associated with its effectiveness and efficiency, which can be transformed into the general performance of the company. This study aimed at providing evidence regarding the characteristics possessed by the East Africa community companies’ board of directors and their influence on the companies performance. Simultaneous system of equations and annual data from 16 companies for a period between 2003 and 2017 was used in the study. The study observed that the market performance measures to be highly influenced by the changes in the characteristics of the board such as board size, the proportion of women, proportion of independent directors and proportion of foreign directors. On the other hand, the account performance measures were less influenced by the board characteristics, and only ROE was more associated with the changes on board characteristics. During this period, the market was more overwhelmed by new information regarding the board characteristics as compared to the performance of the account measures.enManagementBoard characteristicsEast Africa companiesDirectorsAgency problemDirectors boardBook chapter