Financial Times Briefings: Corporate Governance

My book on UK corporate governance is finally published.
ISBN-10: 0273745972

"Corporate governance describes the systems, procedures and behaviours by which an organisation is directed and controlled."

The book is designed as a quick, practical and accessible guide to what you need to know about UK corporate governance. It describes the basis of law and how voluntary codes, backed by a "comply or explain regime", were encouraged as government took fright over the effect of corporate scandals on capital markets. Inevitable accretions of bureaucracy have led to the voluntary approach being partly subsumed into law and describes how this trend is likely to continue under the influence of EU pressures to unify national practices.

The book covers the responsibilities of directors and boards and how the latter should be organised and managed. It also addresses the practicalities of how to measure, manage, discuss and justify corporate governance.

However, rules are not enough – both corporate scandals and anecdotal evidence suggest that behaviours are critical to good governance. Indeed too much legislation is counterproductive, turning into a box ticking exercise rather than something people really engage with. For the ill intentioned those laws and regulations merely provide neat targets for side-stepping and proving that their behaviour did not quite fit the definitions givem. Rules and codes, together with the prevailing climate of opinion can encourage appropriate behaviours and ensure the quality of the ‘Boardroom Conversation.’ But  if people think they can get away with sliding around the definitions while ticking the boxes then many of them will.do so; that climate of opinion is critical because it can discourage behaviour that falls just outside the definitions but that business partners believe is beyond the pale.

Furthermore, governance extends beyond the boardroom door. The blowout at BP’s Deepwater oil rig and GSK’s product quality failings at its Costa Rica drug manufacturing plant occurred despite compliance processes and safety officers and reams of risk assessments and governance procedures in annual reports. The behaviour of subordinates is also the responsibility of the board and an integral part of their governance duties – how do they make their policies stick?

The book emphasises that corporate governance applies as much to private as to listed companies as well as to a range of public bodies and not-for profit organisations. Good corporate governance contributes to business success, to successful fundraising and to dealing with business partners. It balances the needs and rights of different interest groups. It constrains the overmighty chief executive, chairman or shareholder to consider other stakeholders, appropriate levels of risk and to follow fair and transparent processes. It should reduce the incidence of corporate disaster as much as corporate fraud – better board structures and approach would surely have increased the chances of GEC avoiding policies that led inexorably to the company’s implosion? 

Key chapter headings include;

PART 1 – In Brief   

1          The executive précis:

2          What is it? What do I need to know?  Key terms/ concepts

The Background, Corporate Culture, Creative Accounting, Individual Behaviour, The legal structure, Current UK developments, Voluntary Codes or Legislation? The International Picture – EU, The Sarbanes Oxley Act etc

2.1            What is it for?  

2.2            Who is it for?  

2.3             Objectives

3.         Why do it? Risks/ Rewards

Compliance, Stakeholder demands, Corporate effectiveness, Public and Employee Relations, The costs, risks and rewards of good governance, Roes it work? Reasons for Corporate Social Responsibility

4.         Who’s doing it? Who has done it?   

What do success and failure look like?

  

PART 2     In Practice          

5.         How to do it

Role and Duties of Directors, The role of the Board, Integrity and Values, Shareholder rights, The Role of Markets      

6.                  How to manage it

           

7.                  How to measure it

           

8.                  The business case for corporate governance

9.                  How to talk about corporate governance      

PART 3 - Intervention

Executive intervention, Internal communication, Delegated Authority, Risk Management, Whistleblowing, When is my intervention needed? What questions should I ask, and who should I ask?   What are the decisions I need to make? What levers should I pull?            How do we know when we’ve succeeded or failed? 

PART 4 – Other Resources

websites, books, courses, consultants