A Dissertation Submitted in Partial/Fulfillment of the Requirements for Award of The Degree of Master of Science in Accounting and Finance (MSc. A&F) at Mzumbe University
his study assesses the quality of corporate governance practices of Tanzania listed companies; Based on the Revised OECD Principles of Corporate Governance [OECD, 2004. Principles of Corporate Governance, Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.], CMSA guideline for corporate governance practices in Tanzania 2002, and the companies act 2002. It further continues to assess the quality of each OECD principle applied by the listed firms
The corporate governance index (CGI) was adopted to measure the overall quality of corporate governance and disclosure practices of the 17 Tanzanian listed firms. A case study design was employed and data collected from annual reports, disclosure reports, memorandum and articles of association, company websites, and stock exchange website were reviewed to obtain the relevant information.
It appears that, in 2012, the overall corporate governance index (OCGI) scores of all Tanzania listed companies range from 50.54 to 73.61, on a scale of 0 to 100, with an average of 61.86. Results showed that cross-listed Tanzanian companies perform better than domestic-listed companies in almost every category, unlike in China where Cheung, (2008) found that cross-listed Chinese companies only perform better than domestic-listed companies in two categories, namely the role of stakeholders and disclosure and transparency
As a conclusion there is still a room for improvement of governance practices, and the approach to corporate governance in the Tanzanian listed firms need to be formal, transparent, and legally enforceable. An important factor for the success of our private sector development is dependent on the quality of its management. Therefore corporate governance should be at the top of the agenda as a pro business policy and should be embraced by all stakeholders in the society