Professor Collins Ntim, Professor of Accounting, Southampton Business School, says a Corporate Governance Code for Ghana will set a national standard for best corporate governance principles and practices.
He said having a National Corporate Governance Code to guide corporations could help to minimize the ‘evils’ of business and make corporations a vehicle for economic growth and national development.
Prof Ntim, Chairperson of the Drafting Committee of the National Corporate Governance Code for Ghana, being spearheaded by the Institute of Directors – Ghana (IoD-Gh), was speaking virtually at a stakeholders meeting.
The meeting was to discuss in detail the National Corporate Governance Code to be launched on November 18, 2022.
The Ghana Code comprises two main parts; the first part sets the general national standards of corporate governance and reflects relevant provisions of the 2019 Companies Act (Act 992) and best practices in existing national and international corporate governance codes, as well as Ghanaian cultural disposition and national aspirations.
The second part of the Ghana Code endorses existing sectoral corporate governance codes, and develops new corporate governance codes for economic sectors without codes, including the informal sector, not-for-profit organisations and small and medium-sized enterprises.
Prof Ntim stated that, for instance, a strong and effective Corporate Governance could minimise the risk of corporate failures and the attendant costs, including redundancies, unemployment, and government bailouts.
The development of the Ghana Code, he said, had gone through four steps; planning, development, consultation and publicity, launch, implementation and review phases.
The Professor of Accounting said the Code would recognise and endorse existing corporate governance codes in Ghana and promote Ghanaian values and national, continental and global developmental goals.
He said the Corporate Governance Code would promote democracy, good governance, social justice and human rights and dignity while promoting enterprise and entrepreneurship by signalling Ghana as being ready for business.
“The Code will promote equal opportunities and importance for all types of businesses – listed and unlisted, large and small, formal and informal, public and private among others,” he said.
Among its values, he said, the Corporate Governance Code would be fashioned around patriotism, which required collectiveness rather than individualism; accountability, which made management or the leadership answerable for their actions through independent oversight mechanisms.
Prof Ntim mentioned responsibility as it pertained to behaviours that pursued righteousness and allowed for corrective action, including punitive measures for mismanagement among others.
Also, responsibility “involves seeking social justice, sustainability, fairness and equal treatment, protection of minority rights, environment, honouring responsibilities to stakeholders…” he added.
Mr Rockson Kwesi Dogbegah, President, Institute of Directors-Ghana, in his remarks, said despite having several sectoral governance codes for banks, insurance companies, listed companies, and public sector organisations, amongst others, Ghana did not have a national corporate governance code.
That, he said, did not just lead to a lack of coherence in the country’s approach to corporate governance, but left a vast cross-section of businesses and enterprises in the informal sector, not-for-profit organisations, and small and medium-sized enterprises without any corporate governance guidelines.
To address that, he said the IoD-Gh was leading the corporate sector of Ghana to develop a comprehensive national corporate governance code that harmonised existing sectoral codes, covered sectors without corporate governance codes and incorporated best international corporate governance practices.
Mr Dogbegah, also Chairman of the Board of the African Corporate Governance Network, reiterated that there was global consensus for the implementation of the highest standards of corporate governance as crucial and critical to the economic growth, sustainable development and social transformation of the continent
