Drain enquiries

You would think of all the organisations that should have an internal audit function it would be water companies. But look for one at South East Water and you will come up with an empty bucket.

The Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (CIIA) has written to government ministers “raising concerns” about the ongoing lack of internal auditors.

The letter, from CIIA chief executive Anne Kiem, says: “Without internal audit, South East Water’s board may not be receiving adequate independent assurance that its internal controls, both financial and non-financial, are effective.”

She adds: “We believe the government should require Ofwat to make internal audit a regulatory requirement for all water companies or, at a minimum, develop appropriate guidance.”

Corporate governance may be dry, but it may just be the thing that keeps the taps running.

Law unto themselves

Watch out: there is a view developing that companies are facing more legal pressure to get their climate change policies in order.

Melbourne Law School legal eagle Jacqueline Peel has been poring over opinions from international courts—the Intentional Tribunal of the Law of the Sea, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice—and finds there is a link between regulation of companies and nation state performance against climate-related obligations.

Prof Peel writes that the “golden thread” weaving through each opinion is regulation of private entities.

That might mean more litigation against states that “take inadequate measures to appraise and regulate projects of corporate emitters”.

Better get the in-house counsel to do climate risk assessment before green lighting that next venture.

Nice shootin’, Tex

Well, here’s a surprise: a judge in Texas, the state that is the biggest producer of crude oil, has struck down laws that blocked its investment managers from putting money in funds that avoid fossil fuels.

District judge Alan Albright ruled that the  law, known as SB 13, is “unconstitutional” and “impermissibly vague” and “unenforceable”.

A lone star judge goes it alone and puts one in the eye of those who claim ESG is ‘woke’.