Independent directors are important persons to act on behalf of the company's shareholders and to monitor the actions of executive directors and management. The independent directors are believed in the board of companies to act effectively to the interest of shareholders. There were several malpractices in Malaysia in the year 2010 that showed the ineffectiveness of the independent directors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the most performed roles by the independent directors of the top 100 public listed companies in Malaysia and the factors that affect the performance of independent directors. The factors include nomination process, competency, accessibility to information and incentives. This study is based on the perceptions of company secretaries. Cross-sectional method and questionnaires are used to collect data from the respondents. Descriptive analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The findings show that the most performed roles by the independent directors are expressing their views in the board discussions; followed by active participation; and better attendance of the board meetings. Besides, the nomination committee is more involved in the nomination of independent directors than the Chief Executive Officer; other executive directors; and major shareholders, and competency and accessibility to information have significant effect on independent directors' performance. This study will provide information on the current roles performed by independent directors and the effect of CEO's involvement in the nomination process, competency, right to access information and the level of incentives provided to the independent directors on their performance.
