In January 2020, the Investment Association published its 2020 shareholder priorities in which it set out its expectations in four areas that its members identified as critical drivers of long-term value:

• Responding to climate change;
• Audit quality;
• Stakeholder engagement; and
• Diversity.

The publication outlined why investors considered these four issues to be important areas of focus for companies in 2020 and also set out their expectations for change in 2020.

Following the 2020 AGM season, the IA conducted a review of the 93 FTSE 100 companies with year-ends starting after 31 December 2019 who have held an AGM by 30 September 2020.  The 2021 publication sets out:

• An overview of progress against the 2020 shareholder expectations;
• Investors’ evolving expectations for the 2021 AGM season; and
• The approach IVIS will take to assess companies against these expectations in 2021.

Investors' evolving expectations include more developed sustainability reporting, new climate accounting expectations and also greater expectations for both gender and ethnic diversity on boards. 

The full publication is available on the Investment Association website here.