The rhetoric around the new Corporate Governance Code and related legislation is already having a positive impact on corporate reporting in the FTSE 350 – despite not officially coming into force until January next year. Contributor Ken Williamson, UK head of corporate governance – EY.
EY’s analysis of 100 annual reports from FTSE 350 companies shows improvements have been made around reporting on stakeholder engagement, purpose and culture, with companies making adjustments in advance of the new Code coming into effect. Although EY says there is still some way to go to ensure that the disclosures are fully compliant and provide meaningful insights on these new areas.
Stakeholder engagement features more prominently
According to EY’s research, 83 percent of the annual reports disclose how companies are engaging with their employees and 65 percent describe the methods they are using to engage with other stakeholders such as suppliers.
There has also been a small increase in reports mentioning the section 172 duty (of the 2006 Companies Act), rising to 11 percent from just 1 percent last year. Under section 172, directors have a regulatory requirement to consider and report on the long term impact of their business decisions, and the interests of a wide range of stakeholders including their employees, suppliers and community. When the new secondary legislation comes into force companies will have to make a specific statement on how the directors have addressed the matters set out in section 172 for the first time.
Ken Williamson, EY’s UK head of corporate governance, commented: “We’ve seen significant progress in the quality of reporting since we began our reviews five years ago. The political and regulatory focus on how companies engage with their stakeholders has had a noticeable impact on annual reports this year, and we’re also seeing companies providing better disclosures around their purpose, social impact and corporate culture. However there’s still much more to do.
“In order to comply with new Corporate Governance Code and section 172 requirements, companies will need to place greater emphasis on how the board listens and responds to the views of employees and other stakeholders. They will also need to explain how these interactions have impacted their decision making as a result.”
Disclosures on culture reporting improving but are still ‘generic and limited’
EY’s analysis shows an increase in FTSE 350 annual reports that articulate a company’s purpose, in particular a broad societal purpose that goes beyond shareholder value – up to 47 percent from 41 percent last year. This follows a greater focus on these issues from the Financial Reporting Council. There are also improvements in how companies connect their strategic objectives with their purpose – 41 percent of companies make the link, up from 20 percent last year.
Similarly, some companies have started to include more detailed descriptions of the culture they seek to create and the values they aim to embed, in advance of the new Corporate Governance Code. 39 percent of annual reports explain how culture supports the business model or strategy (up from 10 percent in 2015/6), and 30 percent explain how culture is measured (up from 9 percent in 2015/6). Many discuss the importance of culture or identify culture as a board priority.
However, overall, EY says that culture reporting is often generic and limited, with few disclosures that identify the challenges faced in relation to culture or embedding it. Only a minority (37 percent) explain clearly how culture is embedded, beyond ‘setting the tone from the top’.
Hywel Ball, EY’s UK & Ireland Managing Partner for Assurance and UK Head of Audit comments: “With the growth of the knowledge economy, more and more of a company’s value lies in its intangible assets such as its corporate culture. It’s therefore positive to see that some companies are grasping the opportunity to provide better disclosures around these issues, albeit it still having some way to go. These trends are consistent with a growing momentum for companies to report on how they are generating long term value for their stakeholders and increase trust in business for society.
“We have been looking at these issues as part of our work with the Embankment Project for Inclusive Capitalism. Under the auspices of the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism, the project brings together business leaders, investment managers and shareholders. Ultimately it’s focussed on helping companies to deliver trusted information to their key stakeholders.”
Board committee chairs under the spotlight
23 percent of the companies whose annual reports were analysed in EY’s research were found to have chairs who have served on the board for more than nine years, with 6 percent having served for over 15 years. This is significant as Provision 19 in the new Code introduces a nine-year ‘maximum’ tenure for chairs (from first appointment to the board). The nine year period can be extended for a limited time, particularly in cases where the chair was a board member previously. This change is designed to encourage board refreshment and diversity.
EY believes that companies with chairs in excess of, or approaching, nine years of tenure are likely to be scrutinised more heavily as a result of the changes in the new Code.
Corporate reporting should be more than just a compliance exercise, says EY
Ken Williamson, EY’s UK head of corporate governance, commented: “There’s been good progress over the last five years but it’s important that regulators, companies and investors keep innovating, using new ways of working and technological advances to ensure the relevance of company reporting. Technologies such as data analytics, AI and automation have the potential to provide new insights into areas like culture that were previously thought impossible to measure.
“With trust in business in decline, it’s also vital that companies follow the spirit of the new rules, rather than seeing them as purely a compliance exercise. Bland, boilerplate disclosures will miss the opportunity to provide real, meaningful insights to a company’s stakeholders.”
