Corporate governance practices and voluntary disclosure: The case of some selected public institutions in Tanzania

This study assessed the association between voluntary disclosure and corporate governance in public institutions in Tanzania. The main objective was to determine the association between voluntary disclosure and corporate governance in public institutions in Tanzania. The study used secondary data extracted from the annual reports of 114 public institutions for the years 2014 and 2015 which was obtained from the CAG office. Data analysis was done quantitatively using Software Package for Statistical Science (SPSS) version 20.0. The multiple regression analysis technique was then carried out. Multiple regression analysis is a technique which is usually applied to analyze results which cannot be presented graphically. Corporate governance was determined by the existence of audit committees, Board size, Board meeting, Audit firm size and Compensation of Board. The coefficient of these variables was tested to measure the relationship between these variables and voluntary disclosure. The findings of this study reveal that the presence of audit committee, Board size and number of meetings reinforces voluntary disclosure. This being the case, then the government is urged to form audit committees in the public institutions, ensure board meetings are conducted regularly and select competent auditors and well combined governing board of its institutions. It is recommended that future studies should focus on, the same factors to see if they could have the same impact (s) in private institutions as in public institution.