ABSTRACT Small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in West African are significant in driving the growth of the economy but are still grappling with poor accountability and disclosure practices (ADP) partly because of the lack of governance and uneven application of regulation. This paper examines the impact of core governance characteristics, including board size, ownership concentration, gender diversity, and board financial literacy on ADP in regional institutional environments. Based on panel data on 426 SMEs in 2006–2022, the study utilizes the dynamic Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and IV‐2SLS methods to deal with endogeneity and enhance causal inference. The results indicate that bigger and more diversified boards that have high levels of financial knowledge have an influential effect on ADP, and high ownership concentration also does not have a good impact on transparency unless accompanied with sound regulatory control. Governance mechanisms have a positive impact on the quality of disclosure, which is further increased by the internal control systems. The research is relevant to the existing academic discourses by providing novel evidence in a SME setting that is not well researched, showing how governance structure plays with the institutional quality to affect sustainability reporting. They can lead to practical implications such as specific governance changes, enhanced regulatory oversight, and capacity‐building efforts which will allow institutionalizing the process of transparency, enhancing trust in the stakeholders and promoting the long‐term sustainable growth in the region among the SMEs.
Bayong et al. (2026) studied this question.