Effect of changes in regulations on corporate governance on value relevance of listed companies in Vietnam

Abstract

This paper examines effect of changes in regulations on corporate governance in Vietnam on
accounting quality in the aspect of relationship between earnings and share prices. After financial scandals,
many countries have tightened legal regulations on corporate governance. In Vietnam, important legal
regulations on corporate governance, including Security Law, Enterprise Law and Regulations on disclosure
of information by listed companies, have been amended or issued in 2019-2020 and being effective from
January 1, 2021. However, with a sample of approximate 300 Vietnamese listed companies in 2 years (2020-
2021), regression results reveal that there is no evidence for the changes in value relevance (relationship
between earnings and stock price) in the period after the newly issued legal documents took effect. The
evidence provided in this paper is consistent with some previous studies in developing countries and
supports for the recommendation that each country should take consideration of its legal and cultural
characteristics in adopting Westen corporate governance practices. This result is also useful for evaluating
the effectiveness of the changes in CG regulations.