Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between corporate governance, corruption and disclosure of forward-looking information in listed firms in two African countries, Botswana and Ghana. Design/methodology/approach The study uses 174 firm-year observations between the period of 2011-2013 for listed firms in the two countries. Each annual report was individually examined and coded to obtain the disclosure of forward-looking information index. Descriptive analysis was performed to provide the background statistics of the variables examined. This was followed by regression analysis which forms the main data analysis. Findings The findings show that firms in the least corrupt country, Botswana, disclose more forward-looking information than firms in Ghana, one of the most corrupt countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This confirms the relationship between the transparency level of a country and the transparency level of the listed firms in that country. Originality/value This is one of the few studies in sub-Saharan Africa that considered the impact of corporate governance factors on transparency and disclosure of forward-looking information. This study contributes to the literature on the relationship between corporate governance and disclosure by showing that disclosure of forward-looking information in Ghana is associated with the proportion of independent board members. The disclosure of forward-looking information in Botswana on the other hand is influenced by board ownership concentration. The findings of this study will help market regulators in Ghana, Botswana and sub-Saharan Africa, Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Sub-Sahara African Exchanges in evaluating the adequacy of the current disclosure regulations in their countries.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of the impact of corporate governance factors on the disclosure of internal control information by firms in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach A data set from 110 firms in Ghana for the year ending of 2013 was used. Each annual report was individually examined and coded to obtain the disclosure of internal control information index. Descriptive analysis was performed to provide the background statistics of the variables examined. This was followed by regression analysis, which forms the main data analysis method. Findings Results of the disclosure of internal control information mean of 35 per cent indicate that most of the sampled firms did not disclose sufficient internal control information in their annual reports. The low level of internal control information disclosure cannot be used by stakeholders to determine the level of corporate governance practices in the sampled companies. The results of the regression analysis indicate that board independence is a significant variable that explains the disclosure of internal control disclosure. This supports the generally held view that independent directors help to improve the quality of disclosure and increase the transparency of information. Originality/value This is the first study in Ghana that considered the impact of corporate governance factors on internal control information disclosures. This study contributes to the literature on the relationship between corporate governance and disclosure by showing that the disclosure of internal control information in Ghana is associated with the proportion of independent board members. This findings support Sarbanes–Oxley (SOX) 404 requirements, even though this is not compulsory for Ghanaian firms unlike their US counterparts. The findings of this study will help market regulators in Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa, Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Sub-Saharan African Exchanges in evaluating the adequacy of the current disclosure regulations in their countries. Understanding the board composition and their impact on voluntary disclosure provides evidence on the sufficiency of the board of directors’ guidelines in the corporate governance code in Sub-Saharan African countries.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate compliance with risk disclosure requirements under International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS 7) by firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) over a three-year period. Specifically, the paper examines the extent, quality and determinants of risk disclosure compliance with IFRS 7. Design/methodology/approach The study uses 90 firm-year observations for the period 2011-2013 for firms listed on the GSE. Each annual report was individually examined and coded to obtain the extent and quality of corporate risk disclosure index. Descriptive analysis was performed to provide the background statistics of the variables examined. This was followed by regression analysis, which forms the main data analysis. Findings The results indicate that over the three years, the extent of compliance with IFRS 7 is, on average, 53 per cent, which is very low; the quality of the disclosures is, on average, 33 per cent, which is also very low. The regression results suggest that proportion of non-executive director (PNED) is significantly and positively associated with the extent of risk disclosure compliance under IFRS 7. Board size was found to be significantly and positively associated with quality of risks disclosure compliance. Originality/value This is the first study in Ghana that considered the impact of corporate governance factors on the extent and quality of IFRS 7 risk disclosure compliance. The findings of this study will help market regulators in Ghana in evaluating the adequacy of the risk disclosures by listed firms.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of board characteristics on firms’ investment decisions. Design Methodology Approach The study used data sourced from annual reports of firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange from 2014 to 2018. Descriptive analysis was performed to provide the background statistics of the variables examined. This was followed by a regression analysis which forms the main data analysis. Findings The multiple regression analysis results indicated that the proportion of independent directors and financial experts on the board are negatively related to firm investment. These findings imply that independent directors and financial experts on the board can help firms reduce overinvestment and improve investment efficiency. Originality Value The extant literature shows that the board of directors are an effective mechanism to reduce agency problems in firm decisions and operating performance. However, there has been little research on the role of the board of directors in corporate investment policy.

According to the IASB's IFRS framework, qualitative characteristics are the attributes that make the information provided in financial statements useful to others. This study was conducted to investigate the quality of financial reports before and after adopting IFRSs in Ghana, and also the influence of firm-specific characteristics which include firm size, profitability, debt equity ratio, liquidity and audit firm size on the quality of financial information disclosed by firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange. The research was conducted through detailed analysis of the pre-official adoption period, (2006) and post adoption period, (2008) financial statements of the listed firms. Descriptive analysis was performed to provide the background statistics of the variables examined. This was followed by regression analysis which forms the main data analysis. The results of the quality of financial information disclosure mean of 76.80% (pre adoption) and 87.09% (post adoption) for the two years indicate that the quality of financial reports has improved significantly after adopting IFRSs. The study thus confirms that the implementation of IFRSs generally reinforce accounting disclosure quality. It also indicates listed firms' overwhelming compliance with the IASB's IFRS Framework. The results of the multiple regression analysis show that company size, represented by net assets and Auditor type were found to be associated at a statistically significant level with the quality of financial information disclosed. With the improvement in the quality of the financial reports after adopting IFRS users are assured of useful information for financial decision-making.