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The purpose of this study is to examine the capital market effects of corporate governance (CG) practices of a “comply or explain” environment on stock market liquidity in a frontier market.

Using secondary data from Nairobi Securities Exchange, the liquidity position is analyzed using panel data random effects regression against CG guidelines.

The results show a negative and significant relationship between CG compliance and stock market liquidity, suggesting that regulated CG practices improve market liquidity in Kenya. The results are remarkably robust to different measures of liquidity and supports agency and signaling theory.

The authors provide evidence to show that security regulation improves stock market liquidity in a frontier market whose characteristics are thought not to favor regulation. Therefore, regulators and stakeholders could be motivated by the benefits of regulation, and this could lead to renewed effort to improve CG compliance.

The findings show that security market regulation through CG guidelines can improve stock market liquidity in frontier markets. This offers regulators and policymakers a strong motivation to enhance security regulation to improve capital market confidence.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether compliance with corporate governance (CG) requirements has constrained earnings management (EM) for companies listed in Kenya and Tanzania.

The sample comprises of 48 companies listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange and the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange. The data are collected from annual reports over the period 2005-2014, a total of 480 firm-year observations. Panel data models are used in the analyses.

The results show that discretionary accruals (DAs) average about 11.3 per cent, whereas audit quality is negatively and significantly related to DAs. However, board independence, board gender diversity and director share ownership were positively and significantly related to DAs suggesting that CG may not have constrained EM in eastern Africa.

The findings should be understood within the context that only annual reports and audited financial statements that were filed with Capital Markets Authority (Kenya) and Capital Markets and Securities Authority (Tanzania) are used as source of information.

The study potentially contributes in three main ways. First, this is the first cross-country analysis that has examined the effect of CG structures on EM in an African context. Second, literature on CG and EM has been extended. Finally, the authors have extended research by observing the limitations of CG in reducing EM in an environment that is experiencing weaknesses in CG structures.

This paper aims to investigate corporate internet reporting (CIR) by Kenyan and Tanzanian listed companies and whether the level of CIR is related to corporate governance structures.

The authors collect data over a four-year period from companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and the Dar es Salaam Securities Exchange. Panel data models (random effects) are used for the analysis.

The results indicate that the level of CIR in both countries is high, but the highest in Kenya. The authors find that CIR increases with foreign ownership, audit committee independence and financial expertise but decreases with domestic ownership concentration. They also show that the effects of ownership concentration are moderated by country-specific factors. Overall, the results demonstrate that effective governance structures may lead to higher levels CIR in sub-Saharan Africans.

This study extends, as well as contributes to the existing literature by the examining the corporate governance-disclosure nexus relating to CIR in sub-Saharan Africa. These findings have policy implications for African countries looking to attract foreign investment.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between business ethics practices disclosure and corporate governance characteristics in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The study uses multiple regression to investigate the association between business ethics disclosure (BED) and corporate governance characteristics in SAA. The study sample is based on 573 non-financial corporations listed on the national stock exchanges of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe as of 31 December 2015.

The findings show that corporate governance characteristics (including the proportion of government ownership, board independence and board gender diversity) are positively and significantly related to BED.

The study contributes to the limited literature by analyzing the relationship between BED practices and corporate governance characteristics in the sub-Sahara African context, which is significantly different from the Anglo-Saxon world.

This paper aims to examine the impact of compliance with corporate governance (CG) guidelines during the period 2002-2014 on firm financial performance and firm value of Kenyan-listed companies.

Using panel data of 520-firm year’s observations between 2005 and 2014, the authors test the hypothesis that compliance with CG guidelines issued in 2002 by Capital Markets Authority (CMA) improved firm financial performance and firm value.

Compliance with CG Index which is an aggregate of all the CG guidelines is positively and significantly related to firm performance and firm value. Board evaluation is also positively and significantly related to firm performance. The findings suggest that CG guidelines are associated with firm financial performance and firm value.

The authors provide evidence on the relationship between CG practices and firm financial performance and firm value in Kenya. Second, the authors provide evidence on board evaluation which has not been tested before in a “comply or explain” environment. Finally, they evaluate how CMA 2002 CG guidelines steered firm financial performance and firm value over its life cycle from 2002 to 2014. These results are important to CMA and other CG regulators and boards in their efforts to improve CG practices in the region.

This study aims to examine the factors influencing the quality of corporate governance in South Africa (SA). Firm-level variables including performance, firm size, leverage, investment opportunities and audit quality were identified from the corporate governance literature.

The study used ordinary least squares regression on firm-specific and corporate governance variables obtained from panel data of 247-firm years obtained from the annual reports of the 50 largest companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Securities Exchange of SA.

This study found leverage, firm size and investment opportunities as the main factors influencing the quality of corporate governance in SA.

The research findings should be interpreted in the light of the following limitations. First, the study sample consists of the 50 largest firms listed in the JSE of SA. Because these are large companies, the results may not be generalized to other smaller firms operating in SA. Second, this study is constrained to SA. Firms in other developing countries may differ from their SA counterparts.

The results of this study are important to the King Committee and other corporate governance regulators in Sub-Saharan Africa, in their effort to improve corporate governance practices and probably minimize corporate failure and protect the well-being of the minority shareholders. Furthermore, the study contributes to our understanding of the variables affecting the quality of corporate governance in developing economies of Africa.

The intent of microfinance institutes (MFIs) in developing countries is to provide loans to very poor people in order to help them transform their lives. MFIs tend to receive subsidies; sustainability is being sought to free MFIs from non‐market dependencies. Sustainability is expected to be achieved with “best practices,” of which management with performance measures is a component. The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of performance measures by three Kenyan MFIs, which are classified as formal and client based, and likely to use rational and explicit performance measures. Clients in these MFIs are placed into self‐help groups with two responsibilities: to provide mutual support and advice to the borrowing client; and to provide the MFI with a guarantee that loans of group members will be repaid.

Based on a review of the economics and performance measurement systems literatures, research questions were developed along with an interview guide. Case studies were used to administer an interview guide which was distributed to the respondents prior to the face‐to‐face interviews.

The study concludes that MFIs have relatively well‐developed performance measures that support their particular businesses. There was a good balance between the use of financial and non‐financial performance measures. However, output measures were more commonly used than process measures. The nature of the MFIs suggests the importance of performance measurement. The managers of the MFIs are concerned with performance measurement, as expected within a bureaucracy, and a top‐down demand is present. In addition, group members or clients are interested in performance measurement as each member guarantees the loans of all fellow group members who have loans with the MFI. Thus, the customers exert a bottom‐up demand for performance measurement.

The findings support the view that performance measures are a means for managing MFIs and are a likely requirement for sustainability. Furthermore, the findings have identified performance measures (similar to those at banks) that are appropriate for the three MFIs in Kenya. The findings are important since the identified performance measures may be adopted by other evolving MFIs in this relatively new sector. In addition, the findings contribute to a better understanding of the genesis of the less popular results and determinants performance measurement framework of Fitzgerald et al.

This study aims to examine the factors influencing the quality of corporate governance in South Africa (SA) and Kenya. Firm-level variables including performance, firm size, leverage, investment opportunities and audit quality were identified from the corporate governance literature.

The study used panel data of 247-firm years obtained from the annual reports of the 50 largest companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) of SA and 234-firm years obtained from the 49 companies listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE). The author then used content analysis to extract the study variables from the annual reports and multiple regression analysis to determine their relationship.

The study found audit quality and firm performance as the main factors influencing the quality of corporate governance in Kenya and SA. There are also differences in the quality of corporate governance between the two countries.

First the study sample consists of the 50 largest firms listed in the JSE of SA and another 49 companies listed in the NSE of Kenya. Since these are large companies, the results may not be generalized to other smaller firms operating in both SA and Kenya. Second, this study is constrained to SA and Kenya. Firms in other developing countries may differ from their SA and Kenyan counterparts.

The results of this study are important to the King Committee and other corporate governance regulators in Sub-Saharan Africa, in their effort to improve corporate governance practices, minimize corporate failure and protect the well-being of the minority shareholders. Furthermore, the study contributes to the understanding of the variables affecting the quality of corporate governance in developing economies of Africa.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that determine the choice of multiple accounting methods in Tanzania. The study investigates managers' decisions to choose accounting methods in a positive accounting theory perspective using panel data covering 60 years from 15 companies listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange.

Data were extracted from the companies' annual reports. Possible determinants of the choice of accounting methods are identified based on the positive accounting theory, including firm size, leverage, internal financing, proportion of non‐executive directors, ownership dilution, and labour force intensity. The study then utilises multiple regression analysis to determine the significant factors influencing the manager's choice of accounting methods.

The results show that the significant factors are company size, internal financing, proportion of non‐executive directors, and labour force. Contrary to the outcome of prior studies, the authors found that company size and internal financing are positively related with income strategy. The study proves statistically that there is a strong association between choice of accounting methods and income strategy.

The paper makes several contributions to the body of knowledge. First, in the Tanzanian context, it determines the factors which affect choice of accounting methods. Second, the study identifies the proportion of non‐executive directors as a new factor impinging on the choice of accounting policies. Finally, this study shows for the first time that the use of ratio of income‐increasing accounting policies to total number of accounting policies can be used as a dependent variable.

Most research on management accounting change relates to practices in developed countries. This paper reports on a field study of management accounting change in the South African context. It uses a contingency theory framework within four retail companies to understand the processes of their management accounting systems change and to explore the rationales for such change processes. The findings indicate considerable changes in management accounting systems within the four cases. Such changes include increased use of contemporary management accounting practices notably activity‐based cost allocation systems and the balanced scorecard approach to performance measures. The paper suggests that recent environmental changes in the South African economy arising from government reform/deregulation policy and global competition largely facilitated the management accounting change processes within the participating organisations.