Corporate governance best practices and performance by deposit taking savings and credit co-operative societies in Nairobi city county
Abstract
Proponents of corporate governance say there is a direct correlation between good
corporate governance practices and long-term shareholder value. This study examined the
relationship between corporate governance best practices and the financial performance
of deposit taking SACCOs in Nairobi County. It investigated the composition of boards
of directors within these organizations and analyzed whether corporate governance best
practices have an impact on financial performance, as measured by return on assets
(ROA). The study used primary data from a developed questionnaire and secondary
source data collected from the SACCOs financial reports filed with SASRA. It
specifically looked at four board characteristics (board independence, board size, gender
of the board of directors and number of board committees) which were set as the
independent variables. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression was used to
estimate the relationship between corporate performance measures and the independent
variables. Findings from the study show that there is strong positive association between
board size and corporate financial performance. Evidence also exists that there is a
positive association between board independence and financial performance. Good
positive association was also observed between number of the board committee and
gender of the board members, and firm financial performance. In conclusion therefore
The study suggests that large board size should be encouraged and the composition of
outside directors as members of the board should be sustained and improved upon to
enhance corporate financial performance
Publisher
University of Nairobi