Corporate governance disclosure in a South African public pension fund

Abstract

Orientation: The importance of corporate governance in a public pension fund.Research purpose: Determining the disclosure of corporate governance principles in a South African public pension fund.Motivation for the study: Media reports have reported on the mismanagement and governance concerns of a public pension fund, creating concern for public pension fund members where membership is mandatory.Research design, approach and method: The article followed a qualitative approach and used a content analysis. The content was extracted from a public pension fund’s 2017–2021 annual reports. The content was analysed using a corporate governance framework.Main findings: A sound theoretical checklist framework for corporate governance was established. The public pension fund annual reports were investigated against each principle. The research revealed that the fund fully disclosed the majority of the King IV principles with room for improvement.Practical/managerial implications: The study is significant in that it guides organisations with a checklist to review corporate governance. Furthermore, it offers pension fund members more clarity regarding the fund’s management from the annual reports.Contribution/value-add: A framework was established based on the 17 principles of the King IV report to examine if corporate governance is disclosed in South African organisations’ annual reports. Annual reports on their own may not be sufficient to review the fund’s management, and further studies are recommended to evaluate financial statements and day-to-day operations.