Corporate Governance Developments in Ghana: The Past, the Present and the Future

Abstract

Corporate governance has received a lot of attention after the 2008 global credit crunch that culminated into bank failures and worldwide economic crises. In many developing countries, disclosures and the compliance with the corporate governance codes of best practices existing in such countries have become necessary due to ever increasing foreign investors who rely upon the financial reports of companies in those countries before having huge economic and financial investments in them.

In the case of Ghana, following the enactments of the 2002 corporate governance code by the SEC, many codes of best practices have emanated while there have been calls for a single code by various regulators and stakeholders. While full compliance with the codes and its enforcement by the SEC is being canvassed for, corruption which has persisted and continues to grow has been single out as the major bane within the Ghanaian system. This paper, however, contributes to a body of knowledge and existing literatures while giving a lucid picture as to the corporate governance developments in Ghana in the past, the present and the future. It discusses the issue of compliance with the codes of best practices and the challenges being faced in a developing economy such as Ghana. It argues that while the socio-cultural problem of corruption persists, it is onerous on the government to fight through good governance, effective legal system, proper enforcement by the regulators and citizenship enlighten.

Keywords: corporate governance, developments, Ghana, past, present, future

JEL Classification: G21, G34