Nature of Violation of Saudi Corporations of the Capital Market Law: an Empirical Study of the Capital Market Authority's Actions on Listed Companies

Purpose: The Saudi stock market has observed significant changes during the last five years. One of the most important changes was the establishment of the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA, thereafter). Since, then, CMA carried out significant improvements in order to strengthen financial transparency. One tool was establishing closer observation on listed companies' financial disclosure by means of executing sanctions on those companies not performing the minimum required disclosure. This study reports on a research conducted to investigate sanctions on listed companies by CMA in order to enlighten our understanding of the dimensions of transparency of financial disclosure in Saudi stock market.

Methodology and Findings: All sanctions imposed by CMA since its emerging were collected and analyzed. The findings suggest that the culture of Saudi business and investments are still playing significant role in directing the market rather than the consequences of the efforts of CMA. Most of the CMA sanctions were more related to the fighting of managerial un-compliance with rules and procedures, rather than with the core of the disclosure itself.

Importance and Implications: The importance of the finings of this research is that it brings light on the efforts of the CMA to increase compliance with the Saudi capital market law. It also helps regulators of CMA to enlighten their efforts to enhance transparency of their stock market and similar stock markets to benefits of the experience of CMA.