The study examined the impact of corporate governance practices on the performance of SMEs in Ghana. Both descriptive and correlational research design were employed for the study. Convenience sampling technique was used to select one hundred (100) SMEs from two regions in Ghana. The study utilised the annual reports of the SMEs from 2012 to 2016 financial years. Net profit margin (NPM) and return on assets (ROA) were used as proxies for performance and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression model was used to estimate the level of impact of corporate governance on the performance of SMEs in Ghana. The study found empirical evidence to support the view that the board size (BS) has a negative impact on NPM, though insignificant. In addition, the evidence obtained indicate that board gender (BG) and management ownership (MO), all have positive impact on NPM. The evidence also showed that role difference for CEO and board chairman (DR) has a negative and positive impact on both ROA and ROE. Similarly, the results showed that board size (BS) has an insignificant negative impact on ROA. Additionally, it was ascertained that board gender (BG) and management ownership (MO) have positive impact on ROA, though the level of impact of board gender (BG) and management ownership (MO) are statistically insignificant. The results further provide evidence that the control variables: firm age (Fage) and industry of the firms (FInd) have a significant positive impact on both NPM and ROA. Generally, the evidence obtained show that corporate governance has positive but insignificant impact on performance of SMEs.
Keywords: Corporate Governance, Ghana Stock Exchange, Manufacturing Firms, Return on Assets, Return on Equity
