Corporate Governance Practices and Financial Performance of Selected Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya
| dc.contributor.author | Gitari, Davis Mwenda | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-08-04T08:20:24Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-08-04T08:20:24Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2025-04 | |
| dc.description | A Research Project Submitted to the School Business, Economics and Tourism in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree in Master of Business Administration (Finance Option) Kenyatta University, April, 2025 Supervisor; 1.Jeremiah Koori | |
| dc.description.abstract | Good corporate governance practices are critical for improving financial performance in small and medium-sized businesses. The study is prompted by the persistently poor financial performance of small and medium-sized businesses. Over 70 percentage of SMEs fail within the first three years of operation due to low volume sales that lead to losses despite their importance to the Kenyan economy. Majority of the studies have indicated that corporate governance practices enhances performance of small and medium enterprises. This study aimed at investigating the effect of corporate governance practices on the financial performance of selected SMEs in Kenya. Subsequently the specific objectives steered this research project to determine the effects of board structure, CEO duality as well as audit committee on the financial performance of the selected SMEs in Kenya. The study adopted stakeholder theory, stewardship theory and resource dependency theory. The study looked at empirical review relevant to this research proposal. A descriptive research design was utilized. A target population of 165 directors and managers from the selected SMEs was the unit of analysis. The study targeted all the top level management of the selected SMEs in Kenya hence a census study was utilized to administer questionnaires to the respondent. Secondary data was collected through the use of secondary data collection schedule. The questionnaire validity was tested using the supervisor and expert assessment and reliability was checked by use of Cronbach’s alpha. The collected data was probed for error then it was scrutinized using descriptive statistic by utilization of mean and standard deviation with the guidance of Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) software version 22 with and multiple regression analysis were used. A diagnostic test was conducted where a Shapiro Wilk test, Autocorrelation test and Multi-collinearity test was utilized. The collected data and analyzed was presented in form of charts, tables and graphs. Ethical considerations were observed. The study found that board structure had statistically insignificant effect on financial performance of SMEs. The study found that CEO duality had a positive and significant effect on financial performance of SMEs. The study found that audit committee had a positive and significant effect on financial performance. The study recommended that being a director on a board is a demanding job as a result of this duty, making the design of the function and make-up of the board of directors an essential task is critical. | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Kenyatta University | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/31046 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Kenyatta University | |
| dc.title | Corporate Governance Practices and Financial Performance of Selected Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya | |
| dc.type | Thesis |