Corporate Governance reminders
Premium listed companies and groups are now reporting under the 2016 UK Corporate Governance Code.
For the 2018 reporting season many will be adopting best practice from the Guidance on Audit Committees. The Guidance on Audit Committees, dated April 2016, recommends a number of disclosures designed to reflect changes in the 2016 UK Corporate Governance Code (“the Code”) including disclosures on audit committee effectiveness evaluation and on internal audit.
In addition to the changes in the Code and Guidance on Audit Committees, applicable for the periods commencing on or after 17 June 2016, there are a number of areas that boards should be focusing on as they head into the 2018 reporting season.
For the annual reports these include the areas of focus from the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC’s) Annual Review of Corporate Reporting 2016/17, its year end advice letter to Audit Committee chairs and finance directors, and its consultation on amendments to its Guidance on the Strategic Report.
Outside the annual reports companies will be working on the new requirements of General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”), which come into force in the UK on 25 May 2018, preparing the disclosures required by Gender Pay Gap Reporting legislation and also working towards greater tax transparency.
Looking further ahead, the Government has set out its plans to move forward with its corporate governance reforms following its Green paper issued last November and also the BEIS Select Committee inquiry into corporate governance. The Government’s response to the Select Committee was published in September 2017. The proposals will be introduced through a number of different mechanisms including secondary legislation, changes to the UK Corporate Governance Code (for which the FRC has just issued a consultation running until 28 February 2018) and other industry led solutions.
This page provides a wealth of resources on all of these areas to complement our comprehensive year end briefing for Boards. Quick links to other resource pages including the UK Corporate Governance Code, Guidance on Audit Committees, Guidance on Risk Management, Internal control and Related Financial and Business Reporting and checklists to assist companies to comply with current governance, legislative and regulatory requirements are also provided.
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