Although several studies have explored the nexus between corporate governance and firm performance, there are still some areas that need further attention. These areas include the impact of corporate governance characteristics such as board training, board nationality, board education, nomination committees on firm performance. Thus, the aims of the study are to examine the impact of corporate governance on firm performance. To achieve this objective, data were collected from 542 listed companies in Bursa Malaysia for the period of 2003 to 2012. This study used multiple regression for data analysis. The corporate governance characteristics examined includes board of directors (size, independence, training, nationality, education), audit committee (size, independence, meeting), and nomination committee (size, independence, experience). Firms performance is measured using return on assets, return on equity and Tobin‘s-Q. In general, the results show that firms with effective corporate governance are more likely to have better firm performance. This means that there is direct relationship between firms with strong corporate governance and firm performance. These findings are robust on other estimators and sensitivity analysis. The results provide several implications to investors, policy makers, researchers and regulators, especially with regard to enhancing firm performance.