‘Tis the season to be stingy

In the week before Christmas comes the inevitable Scrooge story. According to research by the Law Family Commission on Civil Society, the UK’s highest earners cut their charitable donations by 20% in the run up to the pandemic. That’s the nation’s top 1% of earners, or with income above £175,000. Perhaps they’ll be more generous after Christmas.

Drahi eyes up BT

A scramble to protect BT from takeover appears to be underway from a reading of the business pages. Reports quote an unnamed source saying the government would “not hesitate to act” to protect the telecoms giant after Patrick Drahi, the owner of Sotheby’s, increased his stake in BT to 18%.

Concerns about national infrastructure has been a focus of politicians and takeover and merger observers for some time. It appears Drahi will not only have to spend big if he is to control BT, but also win over Westminster. Tall order for a Frenchman.

NGOs push for sustainable corporate governance

Campaigners have attempted to place the EU under more pressure this week to push ahead with new laws on sustainable corporate governance. Co-ordinated by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, a letter signed by 20 NGOs, calls on EC president Ursula von der Leyen to use the delay to ensure the coming legislation sets “an ambitious standard of care” and applies to the widest group of businesses.

The new measures are expect to impose mandatory human rights due diligence requirements on companies as well as fresh duties for the environment. The directive has been delayed three times this year and is now not expected to appear until 2022. Some observers worry the due diligence measures might be weaker than first expected.

FRC tribunal over Carillion collapse

The long running fallout for the collapse of Carillion in 2018 will continue in the New Year with a disciplinary tribunal hearing where KPMG, then auditors of Carillion, a partner at the firm and several other employees will face a complaint of misconduct after allegedly providing “false and misleading information” to regulators looking into audit quality. The complaint will be heard by the Financial Reporting Council, the UK’s audit and governance watchdog.

Carillion’s collapse provoked a a wide-ranging review of audit, auditors and the audit market by parliamentarians and regulators. The sector is currently braced for the arrival of reform proposals expected some time early in 2022.

Ex-yoghurt boss to drive culture change

From dairy to financial reporting: former Danone chair and chief executive Emmanuel Faber has been appointed the first chair of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), the body launched at COP26 and charged with developing, to begin with, climate reporting standards. Faber describes the new standards project as a “once in a generation” opportunity to help investors access quality sustainable information.

“We should move diligently and build on the great momentum resulting from the formation of the ISSB at COP26,” Faber says.