CHAPTER 4 Banks 88. The Banking Supervision Department of the Bank of Ghana holds meetings with banks and external auditors to discuss items to be given full disclosure in the published accounts. The CSAR notes that Banks that failed to comply with the requirements in 2002 were sanctioned. The entire process is supervised internally, and this is controlled by the Audit Committee of the Board of each bank. ii. Findings of the CRM 89. Boards are reported to be captive to controlling shareholders and ineffective in managing corporate governance practices or monitoring conflicts of interest. Recruitment processes in most enterprises are marred by nepotism, often resulting in incompetence of personnel. 90. Stakeholders indicated the need for better record-keeping by firms, in particular SMEs. Only NGOs consistently keep accounts and make use of external auditors, mainly because it is a requirement from donors for continued funding. In Wa, the CRM interacted with a church-run initiative that offers accounting and other professional services for SMEs. Stakeholders have recommended that such initiatives be encouraged. iii. Recommendations 91. The Panel recommends that: ? The Companies Code and relevant laws be amended to take into account global corporate governance developments, especially the codes of the OECD and Commonwealth for the governance of companies, including SOEs and SMEs, for example to: - Require the formation of Board committees in general, and audit committees in particular; - Introduce responsibility for the accuracy of financial statements; - Require internal auditing for companies; - Require the appointment of independent directors; and - Require guidelines for managing conflicts of interest. ? 112 Corporations and other entities make material information more widely