Corporate Governance: The Impact of Director and Board Structure, Ownership Structure and Corporate Control on the Performance of Listed Companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange

Abstract

Abstract
Purpose - This paper seeks to examine the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance of listed Ghanaian companies.
Design/Methodology/approach – The study adopts a longitudinal and cross-sectional data set of 20 sampled companies over a period of 5 years. The data was analysed using a panel regression and ANOVA analysis to establish the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance. Corporate governance is defined in terms of three indices –board structure, ownership structure and corporate control while firm performance is measured by return on assets, return on equity, net profit margin and Tobin’s Q.
Findings - The findings of the study revealed that, top twenty ownership structures and female representation on board have significant positive relationship with firm performance, while board independence and frequency of audit committee meeting have negative significant relationship with firm performance.
Research limitations/implications – The scope of this study can be expanded to include non-listed firms.
In addition, other corporate governance mechanisms could be considered to broaden the scope of the study.
Originality/value -The originality of the paper is attributable to the use of two (2) data analysis techniques (panel regression analysis and ANOVA) which provides a comprehensive analysis on the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance. This, to the best knowledge of the authors, is the first of its kind to be done in Ghana.