FRC review indicates encouraging early signs of large private company reporting, says The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland

The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland (CGIUKI) welcomes publication today of a report from the Financial Reporting Council, conducted with the University of Essex, which shows that the Wates Principles are the most widely adopted corporate governance code used by large private companies.

Peter Swabey, Policy and Research Director at The CGIUKI said:

“It is very early to start assessing the impact of the Wates Corporate Governance Principles for large private companies, particularly given the impact of the pandemic.

“Many companies have only completed one reporting cycle, but this report offers encouraging early indications that most of these large private financial companies are seeking to go beyond mere compliance with the regulations and to offer meaningful reporting to their stakeholders about their governance.

“This report highlights the wide range of governance arrangements that these large private companies have in place.  As such, it provides an excellent basis on which to build for reporting in future years as well as offering examples of good practice and guidance on how reporting might be improved.”

For further information, please contact Jemima Broadbridge, Media Relations Manager:

jbroadbridge@cgi.org.uk

+44 (0)20 7612 7072
+44 (0)7376 198 649

Notes to Editors:

1. The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland is the qualifying and membership body for governance with over 125 years’ experience of educating and supporting governance professionals. With a Royal Charter purpose of leading ‘effective and efficient governance and administration of commerce, industry and public affairs’, we provide professional development, guidance and thought leadership, and work with regulators and policy makers to champion high standards.
   
   The Institute has divisions in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong/China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Southern Africa, the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe. The division headquartered in London represents and supports members in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Crown Dependencies and associated territories, which include the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. Website: www.cgi.org.uk 
2. The Companies (Miscellaneous Reporting) Regulations 2018 (‘the Regulations’) require that large private companies provide a corporate governance statement for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2019. This project is designed to understand levels of compliance, to investigate how many of the companies within scope applied the Wates Principles and how many applied an alternative corporate governance code or approach and, for companies applying the Wates Principles, to assess the quality of reporting in terms of extent of disclosure and to identify examples of good practice.