Corporate Governance study support

About

The aim of this module is to provide advanced knowledge and key skills necessary for the company secretary or governance professional to act as chief adviser to the board and other stakeholders on best practice in corporate governance, and as the facilitator for systematic application across a wide range of organisations.

After successful completion of this module you should:

• Be able to research and critically apply the growing global, regional and local information sources on corporate governance.
• Be able to advise on the duties of directors as well as the role, membership, composition and effectiveness of the board, within legal and regulatory frameworks.
• Be able to apply the concepts of disclosure in terms of accountability, transparency, corporate social responsibility, ethical standards and sustainability in governance.
• Be able to critically appraise and apply corporate governance principles and best practices in risk management for the board in the employing or client organisation.
• Be able to exercise appropriate judgment in the use of professional knowledge and skills to the resolution of practical issues and problems in the proper governance of an organisation.

Download the Corporate Governance module syllabus.

Study text

If you have not yet downloaded your study text for this module and need it urgently, please email enquiries@cgi.org.uk or call +44 (0)20 7580 4741 during business hours.

You will need to purchase a copy of the study text and you can visit our Bookshop using the link below.

Module	Study text	Status
Corporate Governance	Recommended study text	This is the recommended study text for the June and November 2024 exams.

Guidance for November 2024 examination

Note to candidates: when preparing responses that reference the UK Corporate Governance Code, use the 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code references. 

We have issued an addendum to the Corporate Governance study text to cover the UK Stewardship Code 2020. 

You will need to use this if you are preparing for Corporate Governance at the June 2024 examinations. 

The addendum is an update to the content in Chapter 14, Section 8 of the study text – UK Stewardship Code – pages 391 to 396. You can read the addendum instead of this section of the text.

View and download the addendum.

Exam material

In the table below you will find:

• Exam paper - this is the paper that was set at the exam session
• Mark scheme - this is the document markers used to assess students' answers
• Examiner's report - this is the examiner's comment on the examination performance
• Student answers - for some sessions we can show examples of answers students wrote in the examination
• Pass rates - These pass rates refer to exams from the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and Associated Territories (all territories administered by the Chartered Governance Institute’s office in London).

Corporate Governance exam material

Exam session	Exam paper	Mark scheme	Examiner's report	Student answers
June 2024	View	View	View
November 2023	View	View	View
June 2023	View	View	View
November 2022	View	View	View	not available
June 2022	View	View	View	not available
November 2021	View	View	View	Exam paper 1 (pass) Exam paper 2 (pass) Exam paper 3 (merit) Exam paper 4 (distinction)
June 2021	View	View	View	Exam paper 1 (pass) Exam paper 2 (merit)
November 2020	View	View	View	Exam paper 1 Exam paper 2
November 2019	View	View	View	Question 12 (fail) Question 12 (merit) Question 12 (distinction)
Sample paper	View	View	Not available for sample paper

You are able to view resources from the previous version of the Qualifying Programme in the ‘Archive’ tab above.

Webinars

We deliver a number of study support webinars for each exam session covering topics ranging from planning your study to exam strategy. You will get details of upcoming webinars via email. Each session is recorded and can be found in the 'Learning resources' area, so you can view it at a time to suit you.

We plan to deliver webinars that are subject specific to the Qualifying Programme modules.  You will receive an invitation to join these live webinars and the recordings can be accessed below.

Webinar dates and links for the November 2024 session:

• Corporate Governance revision webinar for June 2024 session.
• Corporate Governance revision webinar and slides for November 2023 session.
• Corporate Governance revision webinar and slides for June 2023 session
• Corporate Governance revision webinar and slides for November 2022 session.
• Corporate Governance examiner webinar, slides and Q&A for November 2021 session. The examiner analysed questions from the recent exam session and provided guidance on exam strategy. You can view the student answers in the 'Exam material' tab above.

• Corporate Governance examiner webinar, slides and Q&A for November 2020 session. The examiner analysed questions from the recent exam session and provided guidance on exam strategy. You can view the student answers in the 'Exam material' tab above.

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Archive

The previous version of the Qualifying Programme, the Chartered Secretaries Qualifying Scheme (CSQS), ran from June 2011 to June 2019. Some of the modules were very similar to the content of the new Qualifying Programme, particularly the strategy, governance, corporate law and secretarial practice content.

You may find it useful to refer to this material while preparing for your studies, but please remember this material has not been updated since the exam was set; also, remember that the new exams have a different format to CSQS exam papers.

Corporate Governance syllabus

Past papers

Corporate Governance past papers

Exam session	Exam paper	Suggested answers	Student answers
June 2019	View	View
November 2018	View	View	Response to question 3 Response to question 6
June 2018	View	View	Response to question 2 Response to question 3
November 2017	View	View
June 2017	View	View	Response to question 3 Response to question 5
November 2016	View	View
June 2016	View	View	Response to question 1 Response to question 2 Response to question 4 Response to question 6

Webinars

• Corporate Governance examiner webinar and slides for November 2018.
• CSQS Exam Day tips webinar and slides for June 2018 - this session dealt with exam day practicalities. 
• Corporate Governance examiner webinar and slides from November 2017. Please use the password cg2017 to access this webinar.
• Exam  strategy webinar from November 2017. This session dealt with exam techniques, what you can learn from the examiners’ reports and reminders for exam day. Please use the link to view the recording.
• Exam strategy webinar from November 2016.