Effect of Firm Characteristics on Financial Performance amongListed Companies at Rwanda Stock Exchange, Rwanda

Listed firms in Rwanda are expected to perform well financially considering that they are few and the environment for business is conducive. Whilst, there is empirical evidence on firm characteristics and profits of firms on a global and regional perspective, it appears that there are few that have focused on listed companies in Rwanda. Therefore, the study seeks to establish effect of firm characteristics on financial performance among listed companies at the Rwanda Stock Exchange, Rwanda. The study was anchored on Markowitz's Modern Portfolio while the population was all listed entities in RwandaStock Exchange. The findings revealed that liquidity had a negative and significant effect on financial performance while capital adequacy had a positive and significant effect on financial performance. The study concluded that liquidity has a negative and significant effect on financial performance. Also capital adequacy is crucial as it shows the extent to which operations can be funded using internal sources of capital.The study recommends that listed entities should have adequate capital as this was found to be a major determinant of financial performance. Also, firms should keep low liquidity as it was found out that an increase in liquidity does not favour firm performance