Browsing by Author "Isaacs, Pulafela Floyd"

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    The importance of corporate governance in the financial sector: a comparative analysis between Botswana and South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Isaacs, Pulafela Floyd
    Corporate Governance is key to the integrity of financial markets and by extension the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. It is a result of the split between owners and managers of businesses due to clashes in the interests of the parties. This is called the ‘agency’ problem. Problems and mechanisms of governance are different across countries, with governance issues in more developed countries finding their expression in wide shareholder bases while developing economies have smaller and more concentrated structures. Corporates have collapsed in the past due to poor Corporate Governance practices. Examples include Enron, WorldCom, Steinhoff and African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL). The study was motivated by recent reports of corporate governance scandals in Botswana including in relation to board composition, the integrity of financial information and related party transactions. The study is qualitative and seeks to compare corporate governance practices between financial services companies listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), as well as the level of compliance with recommended practices. A review of literature was carried out in the study where theoretical frameworks including the agency, stakeholder, stewardship, and resource dependence theories were explored. The study examined empirical frameworks, discussing Corporate Governance developments in Botswana (local), South Africa (regional) and the United Kingdom (global). Secondary data sources were used to collect data, specifically integrated reports. After analysing the data collected, recommendations were made based on the findings. These include improvements in solvency disclosures, material matters disclosure, materiality determination process disclosure, approval of integrated reports by the board, and disclosure requirements around succession planning. A further recommendation is to institutionalise Corporate Governance and make it part of the listing requirements