Professor Collins Ntim led this project with the support of colleagues Dr Renata Konadu and Dr Pingli Li from Southampton Business School. They played key roles developing the first National Corporate Governance Code for Ghana.
Collaborating with the Institute of Directors-Ghana and other major stakeholders, they improved governance standards in all types of Ghanaian organisations.
The National Code is a set of national standards of best corporate governance practices and principles. These promote Ghana as a democracy where good governance, social justice, human rights and dignity thrive.
The standards promote enterprise and entrepreneurship, signalling Ghana is ready for business. They highlight Ghanaian values of ethics, morality, responsibility, honesty, diversity, respect and boldness.
Shared prosperity and wealth will follow as the National Educational curricula and Ghanaian organisations apply the standards in practice.
The Code was commissioned by the Institute of Directors-Ghana (IoD-Gh) and drafted with the:
- Bank of Ghana (BoG)
- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE)
- State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA)
- 30 other major national institutes, associations and academics
The President of Ghana, His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo attended the reception for the launch of the code in December 2022.
It has been a great privilege and honour to lead the process of developing a national corporate governance code for Ghana, drawing on many years of accounting research and practice.
Development of the code was the first phase of a three-year programme. The next step involves incorporating the standards into the Higher Education curriculum and a widespread training programme.
It will focus on how to apply the standards in practice in all types of organisations. This will include small, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), public sector bodies and state enterprises.
The initiatives of the second stage will include:
- efforts to engage in promotion activities across 16 geographic regions of Ghana including public and private sectors
- efforts to embed Code standards in higher education business schools
- national governance continuing professional development training for major stakeholders, such as directors
- monitoring compliance through surveys
- updating the Code regularly to reflect changing social and economic developments
- corporate governance excellence awards, including a national corporate governance index to promote best corporate governance practices
Developing a national corporate governance code for Ghana has been complex. Completing it is a major achievement. It is important that its contents are promoted across the country’s geographic regions and business sectors.
The combination of these factors may result in the firm establishment of corporate governance standards in Ghana.
It has been a large international and interdisciplinary team effort, and I would like to thank all the stakeholders, including IoD-Gh, sponsors and colleagues who supported the process. Special thanks go to the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account and the Southampton Business School at the University of Southampton for generously funding this project.
Professor Collins Ntim
