Peter Yao Lartey

Uncertainties and risks continue to pose a threat to governance and internal control, impeding public sector modernization and essential service delivery. Attempts to develop alternative strategies to meet desired results in highly bureaucratic institutional environments such as the public sector are intensifying because ideas and principles matter. This study advances informal "soft control" as a substitute for formal "hard control" in four dimensions: (a) creates a clear difference between "soft" and "hard" control; (b) designs key determinants of informal "soft" control; (c) limitations of formal "hard" control; and (d) a conceptual framework and hypotheses to support future empirical research and “operationalization” of the proposed constructs. Critical observations imply that the increasing cases of corporate malpractice and consequential non-alignments with best practises in recent times are sufficient evidence to suggest that formal control is incapable of mitigating financial crimes, irregularities, and preventing complex accounting scandals classified as white-collar fraud. The causes of these control failures are attributed to overreliance on "hard control" which primarily works with sanctions and the neglect of informal control mechanisms "soft controls". This condition has limited the ability of auditors to uncover systematic failures of controls that are process-specific, resulting in a partial and incomplete evaluation of internal controls. The study assumed a theoretical approach due to the lack of existing empirical research on “soft control”. However, this observations form a solid theoretical foundation for further discussions. We argue that "tone at the top," informal social control, organisational culture, ethical values, empowerment, and employee competence are effective substitutes for and complements to formal "hard" controls in preventing another Enron.

The relevance of capital structure decision in the banking sector is documented in this paper. It contributes to existing literature in a review of previous empirical studies and fundamental theories of capital structure. The study underscored the factors influencing the choice of funding in connection with the market timing theories such as Pecking Order theory and the trade -of - theory. Our investigation suggest that, the choice of capital vary across sectors and industries on the basis of business risks, corporate governance, profitability, internal controls, and efficiency. The study observed that most empirical researchers universally endorsed asset structure, industry volatility, corporate taxes and firm growth as strong determinants of capital structure. The above issues may either improve the solvency position of a form or trigger major financial distress depending on the source of capital.

While empirical research has demonstrated the critical nature of internal controls, there is insufficient evidence to indicate that they are effective at detecting and preventing irregularities in the public sector. By analyzing the direct and indirect relationships between internal control components, this study focuses on the quality of internal control in Ghana's public sector. In order to determine whether ongoing controls are consistent with sound public policy, a survey was designed and distributed to public sector employees and managers. According to the evidence, public administrators require high-quality information and communication tools to supplement their existing control systems. Additionally, internal controls are significantly influenced by risk assessment and the control environment, whereas monitoring and control activities have a limited impact. Effective internal communication is necessary for the coordination and implementation of control policies.

Goal: The objective of the paper is to extend the discussions on corporate governance to the public sector and examine good governance from a Ghanaian institutional context. Design / Methodology / Approach: Literature is based on relevant theoretical concepts and seven explanatory variables of corporate governance. Primary data was abstained through structured questionnaires administered to public servants from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies- MDA's in Accra. Ordinary Least Square multiple regression was employed to analyze a total valid sample of 568. The findings represent the opinions of board of directors, internal auditors, senior management and employees. Results: The empirical result shows that audit committees, leadership, board effectiveness, accountability and directors' qualification are strong determinants of good governance in public organizations. However, board size has no impact on good governance when board independence is negative. There is evidence that international corporate governance principles are reasonably visible without any significant deviations. Limitation of the investigation: The study is empirically limited with the absence of key variables such as corruption, ethnicity and tribal politics in public organizations in Ghana. These are major factors associated with institutional governance in developing countries. Originality / Value: The study emphasizes that public and private organizations share almost similar governance indicators, considering the model estimation. There is evidence that corporate governance is gaining popularity in the public sector, a discussion that is often limited to the private sector. The study contributes to the limited existing findings on the subject from a Ghanaian institutional context. Finally, the results validate many empirical opinions about the negative relationship between good governance and board size from different institutional environments.

This study presents a new body of empirical evidence supporting knowledge management initiatives from the public sector, in the context of India. The Study examines the impact of KM on public administration. The findings represent the opinions of public servants representing 450 valid responses in a survey conducted at Bangalore. Smart-PLS and Amos statistical tools were employed to estimate a partial least square based on the SEM technique. The results suggest that organizational learning, knowledge sharing, innovation, social identification, and technology infrastructure are strong determinants of KM initiatives and could enhance individual and organizational performance. By extension, the study highlights the relevance of KM in management sciences, human resource, strategic management, leadership, organizational culture, and behavior. Nonetheless, the study variables satisfactorily explained KM at a higher reliability. However, organizational learning and knowledge sharing could be improved to address the increasing knowledge inequality in the public sector.

This article attempts to explain the factors that affect the board’s behavior when it comes to enhancing internal controls in financial institutions, particularly rural banks. The variables examined in this study are not different from the traditional determinants of board effectiveness or internal controls, but except that between all the five variables measured four are technically board characteristics while one relates directly to internal controls. A total of 459 valid structured questionnaire were analyzed based on the feedback gathered from various banks where employees, management and board members shared their views on the factors that would influence the board’s posture to enhance good governance and internal controls. The outcome of the study provided a convincing evidence that, internal audit, external consultancy and the audit committee are dominant determinants of internal control and good governance. Subsequent, examinations using the R square also confirms accuracy of predictions recorded in the principal component analysis. Further studies may analysis the size of the board relative to the increasing functions of ensuring compliance, independence and strategic decisions. This analysis is based on an African institutional context, but could be a universal tool.

Internal control is relevant in every entity, regardless of the objectives. However, its effectiveness varies greatly across jurisdictions. From a Ghanaian institutional perspective, this study presents evidence of internal control compliance from selected public organizations, based on 395 sampled observations. The relationships were measured using a structural equation modelling approach – SEM, and conclusion based on a set of hypothesis developed to test for reliability and model fitness. The findings suggest that preventive, detective, corrective and directive controls are good determinants of compliance. Each explanatory construct measured significant across all thresholds based on the statistical estimates reported in the confirmatory factor analysis, regression weights and the goodness of fit indices. The study further observed that internal control is more effective among organizations practising preventive measures. The study implied that over reliance on detective controls may not significantly influence compliance in the long term, as they are instituted to identify risks and events after they occur, a practice that is common among public organisations. The emergence of new risks relative to increasing accountability requirements, from quality perspective may require more preventive measures than any other type of control. Lastly, policymakers in the public sector must ensure, the cost of implementing controls does not outweigh its benefits. Preventive controls are efficient, proactive and cost effective. However, detective controls and other controls are relevant, to support and provide evidence on how effective preventive controls are functioning.

This study investigates risk management practices in public entities in the Ghana. We relied on the popular framework designed by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission—COSO, to advocate for possible ways to minimize the occurrence and effects of risk in public organizations. The internal control elements used include: control environment, commitment to ethics, segregation of duties, review and information and communication. These constitute the explanatory variables used in performing multivariate data analysis to determine the dimensionality of the data set and possible outcomes. The exploratory research followed a quantitative approach using the survey method and a structured equation model. We established that, due to globalization and increases in the scale of operations, it is practically impossible for management through the help of auditors and those in charge of governance to validate the entire operations of the public sector to ensure strict compliance to internal control principles, in order to minimize the detrimental impacts of risk. However, an alternative sustainability depends on the prominence of quality financial reporting, compliance, commitment to ethical values and consistency in pursuit of the strategic and operational objectives based on good corporate governance. On the other hand, the implications of risks should be embedded in the minds of public servants as part of the organizational culture that will complement existing tools and techniques of internal control.

Internal control is relevant in every business establishment, though its presence may not be a guarantee that fraud and corporate scandals would cease to occur. From the rural banking communities in Ghana, this study examines the significance of internal control element on the performance of elected rural banks. The statistical analysis and inferential judgment is based on the responses gathered from 650 bank employees on the functioning of internal controls. Based on the quantitative results and analysis, the study found a highly significant relationship between internal controls and performance of banks with respect to the principles prescribed by the Committee of Sponsoring Organization of the Treadway Commission framework –COSO. There exist a very strong internal control systems in the rural banks of Ghana, however monitoring, control activities and issues of corporate governance need to be addressed.

This paper examines key institutional drivers capable of fashioning an enabling environment for public sector efficiency. The study gathered evidence that institutional variables such as Innovation, Performance orientation, Value Creation and Budget Flexibility are good predictors of public sector efficiency. The extracted variables per the Factor Analysis accounted for 77.3% variance. Implying that, the 4 extracted factors have significant impact on the dependent variable with relatively high significant alpha value of p< 0.000, per the multiple regression output , corresponding to relatively positive unstandardized coefficients. This implies that, the explanatory variables are prominent determinants with strong evidence to reject the null hypothesis at 95% critical value. However, the Adjusted Square R2 indicates a significant relationship between Efficiency and the explanatory variables at 50.3%. The study concluded that, the public sector needs substantial empirical evidence to enlighten the real impact of key institutional drivers of efficiency and a conventional standard for measuring efficiency.