Speaking at the conference, Sir Win Bischoff highlighted that smaller quoted companies were “critical to generating future jobs and growth in the economy”.  He highlighted that smaller quoted companies “often have limited resources and they face challenges in governance and reporting”. 

Sir Win Bischoff’s speech addressed three key areas where smaller quoted companies need support:

• Culture.  Sir Win Bischoff spoke about the importance of a strong company culture and such a strong culture established by a majority shareholder in smaller quoted companies was "a big attraction to investors".  He spoke of the need to maintain this good culture when the company grows.  Sir Win Bischoff highlighted that during 2015 the FRC will continue to assess how effective companies are at establishing company culture and practices and embedding good corporate behaviour.
• Succession planning.  Sir Win Bischoff also indicated that succession planning was vital to the on-going success of a company and its culture and that this was particularly important for smaller companies “as they are growing and gaining momentum”.  He indicated that the FRC will be publishing a “discussion document” in the next few weeks on succession planning and will use responses to this to consider whether any guidance in this area is required.
• Smaller company reporting.  Sir Win Bischoff re-emphasised the point that although smaller companies think that investors do not read their annual reports, evidence suggests that the opposite is true.  He highlighted the recent Discussion Paper on FRC proposals to help smaller listed and AIM-quoted companies that is intended to support such companies in this area. 

The full speech can be downloaded from the FRC website.