Good corporate governance practice good for business progress — Sam Jonah

Businessman and former President of AngloGold Ashanti, Mr Sam Esson Jonah, has praised the evolution in corporate governance over the years, stating that the drastic transformation in how companies are governed has helped to create an efficient and transparent environment for businesses to thrive.

Speaking at the launch of a book on corporate governance in Accra last Thursday, Mr Jonah observed that unlike the past when companies were run around individuals, with the owners having unfettered powers to take and implement key decisions, modern day corporate governance practices had ensured that the business was less exposed to the owner.

This change, he said had helped to ensure checks and balances and injected efficiency and transparency, creating an enabling environment for the firms to exist beyond their founders and succeed, leading to sustained growth and expansion.

Mr Jonah, who is the Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital, was speaking as the Chairman at the event to launch Corporate Governance; the Boardroom, the Bottomline and Beyond.

The 213-page, 10-chapter book was authored by renowned legal practitioner and journalist, Nii Arday Clegg, and examines the evolution of corporate governance, the impact of western civilisation on the practice in Ghana and the roles of boards and their subcommittees, among others.

The book who’s foreword was by Mr Jonah was endorsed by the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, and launched by a Deputy Attorney-General, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame.

Getting away with murder

Addressing a select group of lawyers, business executives and consultants to mark the heavily attended launch, Mr Jonah said some grievous mistakes resulting from the lack of corporate governance cost some business executives and their firms and that led to the evolution in the practice to the benefit of today’s businesses and their executives.

He said by introducing stricter requirements that clearly defined how company heads and key management staff should be appointed, how boards should be constituted and remunerated and the board committees to be formed and the roles performed, modern corporate governance had ensured that executives “do not get away with murder.”

Ingenious piece of work

He observed that the old system of running companies made it easier for board members and management executives to infest the company’s performance with their opinions, something he said could sometimes prove to be wrong.

He cited profits recorded and reported by a firm as example, stating that the system was such that the finance director or the chief executive could ask the chairman of a company how much profit he/she wanted to be reported.

This, he said proved deceptive and resulted in the failure of firms that were initially seen to be solid through their financial statements.

He praised the book as an ingenious piece of work that would help corporate executives, students and lawyers to understand the dynamics of corporate governance and how to use it to improve their work.

Timely guide

The Deputy Attorney-General described the book as an “important guide and tool to unravelling the complexities and the dynamics of corporate governance in Ghana.”

He said he was hopeful that the book would serve as a useful guide to law practitioners, law firms, judges, the business community and accountants.

He said he was amazed to note that the book dedicated about 40 pages to discussing financial statement analyses, among other things related to finance and accounting.

“So, the book is no mean book; it is not just meant for lawyers but is meant to be a guide to anybody who has something on corporate governance to practice,” he said.

He, therefore, recommended the book to executives and people affected by corporate governance practices, in one way or the other.

Auctioned amount

The author, Mr Clegg, said the lack of a comprehensive document on corporate governance in Ghana inspired him to write the book.

He was hopeful that the book would prove to be a useful document to lawyers, students, teachers, business executives and business owners in their daily activities.