The Guardian

Governance Watch - Issue 50

Governance Watch - Issue 50

Diversity, Inclusion and Progression

We are more than half way into January, and when it comes to politics, the New Year feels very much like the old one. Facing multiple challenges around technological transformation, skills shortages and changing consumer aspirations, much of British business has been tearing its hair out on the uncertainty around Brexit for over two years. During that period the UK government has, in its pursuit of best practice and the lure of Britain for business and investment, taken many steps to raise the bar on corporate governance. 

Governance Watch - Issue 48

Governance Watch - Issue 48

Executive Pay: Context is Critical

The socio-economic climate of Brexit has made boardroom pay - already a topic regularly simmered and stirred in the United Kingdom across a broad range of stakeholders – into rich ground for politicians.

Governance Watch - Issue 47

Governance Watch - Issue 47

Diversity:  Gender, BAME and Power

Men in Britain might be playing up achievements in appointing women to positions of power, responsibility and leadership in business boardrooms and beyond, but most women will tell you (at least privately), that they think very little has changed in terms of the barriers to gender diversity.

Governance Watch - Issue 40

Governance Watch - Issue 40

Kingman Review

The consultation period for the independent review led by Sir John Kingman into the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the UK’s accounting regulator and corporate governance watchdog, has just closed. It is intended to help ensure that the FRC’s role and powers are fit for the future and has come after years of accountancy in the media headlines for all the wrong reasons. 

Governance Watch - Issue 34

Governance Watch - Issue 34

Carillion: The Fall Out

There’s a limit, surely, to how often you can plead an exception to the rule when assessing whether something is fit for purpose. When the ‘rule’: in this case, ‘best practice’ in the running a UK listed business adhering to highly esteemed standards of corporate governance, appears to have been ignored more than once within a few years, it’s time to re-think the components of that best practice.

Governance Watch - Issue 28

Governance Watch - Issue 28

Scrutiny

Many of the revisions and proposed revisions to the UK corporate governance code have been about closer scrutiny for accountability and to raise the bar on standards of behaviour - as have moves on regulation. 

Governance Watch - Issue 26

Governance Watch - Issue 26

#TimesUp And Reputation

Boardrooms all over the world are having to come to grips quickly with the wave of female anger that has been unleashed as women unite to tell their stories of sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace. The #MeToo on Twitter -  representing a ‘hands up’ by those who relayed their experience of sexual predators – was fast followed by #TimesUp after Hollywood came together in a bid to exorcise the sexual workplace ethos now associated with Harvey Weinstein. 

Governance Watch - Issue 15

Governance Watch - Issue 15

Pensions

All UK plc boardrooms should be watching carefully. Pensions keep coming up in the headlines and the stories rarely reflect well on the businesses concerned. They are increasingly being viewed as a corporate governance issue, and from there it is a small leap to reputation. 

Governance Watch - Issue 14

Governance Watch - Issue 14

Appointments and conflicts

There are so many good corporate governance reasons to read this story with interest. 

The Bank of England has created a new role of ‘conflicts officer’ in the wake of the events resulting in the resignation of its Deputy Governor, Charlotte Hogg. I covered that story at the time here, on Forbes. 

Governance Watch - Issue 13

Governance Watch - Issue 13

Regulation and Accountability

It has been an eventful fortnight in UK financial regulation, spewing food for thought on a whole spate of issues around accountability and trust, and their role in better corporate governance.

Almost exactly nine months ago Andrew Bailey, CEO of the UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), spoke out for the first time in the media via an opinion piece in The Guardian to firms that were not applying the senior managers regime that had been in place since March 2016.

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