Corporate governance policy and company performance: the Portuguese case

Several supervisory authorities and governmental working groups issued corporate governance best practice codes for listed companies during the nineties. In this paper, we used a unique database that allowed us to analyse the relationship between the level of compliance of the code of best practice issued by the Portuguese Securities Market Commission and the returns of the concerned companies. By using a multifactor model, one can conclude that there is a positive relationship between the compliance of some of these recommendations and the returns that were determined. The recommendations on the structure and functioning of the executive board deserve a special attention. However, globally, CMVM's code of best practice doesn't have a systematic effect on firm returns.