This thesis consists of three essays on corporate governance, accounting conservatism and corporate financial decisions in the GCC region. It is found that Saudi firms with ruling-family directors practise less accounting conservatism, but that this effect is negated following regulatory changes in 2010 when corporate governance regulations became mandatory.
Family-controlled firms in GCC have lower cash holdings than their non-family-controlled counterparts and tend to reduce cash in the growth, mature and shakeout stages of a firm's life cycle.
Firms with busyness of directors in GCC increase cash holdings and SG&A expenses; decrease capital expenditure and performance
