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: The purpose of this paper is to investigate selected corporate governance attributes and financial reporting lag and their impact on financial performance of listed firms in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses 90 firm-year data for the period 2012–2014 for firms listed on the GSE. Each annual report was individually examined and coded to obtain the financial reporting lag. 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 descriptive statistics indicate that over the three years, the mean value of timeliness of financial reporting (ARL) is 86 days (SD 21 days), minimum is 55 days and maximum is 173 days. The regression analysis results indicate that financial reporting lag has a negative statistically significant relationship with firm performance. This negative sign indicates that when financial performances of companies are high (good news), companies have the tendency to disclose this situation early to the public. Practical implications: Firms that are not timely in the financial reporting practices will find it difficult to attract capital as the delay will affect their reputation. Originality/value: This study is one of the few to measure financial reporting lag and its impact on firm financial performance in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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.Keywords: Quality of financial reports' disclosure, Firm-specific characteristics, International Financial Reporting Standards, Mandatory disclosure, Ghana. JEL Classifications: M40, M41, M48

Purpose: The study aims to examine the simultaneous influence of corruption and culture on corporate social and environmental performance of selected companies.Design/methodology/approach: Theoretical propositions on how corruption and culture influence corporate social responsibility performance were developed and empirically tested. Corruption is measured using Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index and Schwartz (2008) cultural dimension is used as a measure of culture. 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 multiple regression analysis results indicated that corruption and two of the three cultural dimensions (embeddedness and Mastery) are significantly related to corporate social responsibility performance.Originality/value: The study contributes to the corporate social responsibility literature by revealing that corruption and culture are key determinants of corporate social responsibility performance.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the possible corporate governance attributes that can influence companies in Ghana to disclose intangible assets in their annual reports to stakeholders.Design/methodology/approach: A data set from 110 firms in Ghana for the year ending of 2016 was used. Each annual report was individually examined and coded to obtain the disclosure of intangible asset 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: A large proportion of companies disclosed that the useful lives of intangible assets (either acquired or internally generated) are finite and also disclosed their useful lives or the amortisation rates used. Auditor type, industry type and leverage were the factors influencing the compliance with IAS 38 disclosure requirements.Originality/value: This is the first study in Ghana that considered the impact of corporate governance factors on IAS 38 information disclosures. This study contributes to the literature on the relationship between corporate governance and disclosure by showing that the disclosure of intangible asset information in Ghana is associated with Auditor type, industry type and leverage.