This study aims at determine the extent to which Syrians listed firms in Damascus
Stock Exchange comply with the Principles of Corporate Governance, issued by Syrian
Commission on Financial Markets and Securities (2008), Central Bank of Syria, (200
9),
Syrian Insurance Supervisory Commission (2007), and OECD (2004). To achieve this
objective, the researcher conducted a field study on a sample of (20) shareholding
companies working in the banking and insurance sectors (about 83% of the Syrians listed
firms). A questionnaire containing six questions which cover the six principles of corporate
governance was distributed to explore the sample's opinion about how much Syrians
shareholding companies comply with those principles. The major findings of this study
indicated that there were no significant differences between the level of the banks'
commitment to the principles of corporate governance and the level of insurance
companies' commitment.