23 September, 2021

Company law ‘should place purpose at the centre of business’

A four-year research project looking at the state of corporate governance has concluded that government must reform company law to place “purpose” at the centre of company activities and the fiduc...

25 August, 2021

Business Roundtable stakeholder statement ‘mostly for show’, says study

Since the Business Roundtable, a club for chief executives at some of the most high-profile companies in the US, announced in 2019 that it was

12 July, 2021

Directors’ duties: more enforcement needed to drive action on climate

Directors’ duties are currently the focus of intense debate, and even

28 May, 2021

The challenges of balancing purpose with performance

Over the past few years, we have seen considerable changes in behaviour from a large portion of the providers of capital. An increase in responsible investing coupled with more forceful stewardship pr...

20 May, 2021

Company purpose is more than a marketing slogan—it’s a new philosophy

Last month the debate about the role of “purpose” in business and governance took off. Efforts to integrate the concept into boardroom thinking have never been exactly trivial, but April saw a cam...

17 May, 2021

Organisational culture is the key to rebuilding trust in audit

Calls for urgent reform of the audit sector have been growing in recent years, spurred on by a slew of high-profile audit failures. In the UK, the publication of the government’s

26 April, 2021

Why boards should address value preservation at a strategic level

In theory most rational board members intuitively understand that the delivery of sustainable enterprise value over the long-term requires a healthy focus on both value creation and value preservation...

23 April, 2021

Super League debacle gives ‘fresh impetus’ to campaign for company law reform

A collective sigh of relief was released from football fans this week as six high-profile English clubs withdrew from plans to launch a new European Super League. The plan, involving 12 clubs in total...

15 April, 2021

Campaign urges reform of section 172 to promote ‘purpose of the company’

Campaigners, among them big business names such as John Lewis and Innocent Drinks, have launched a project to reform section 172 of the Companies Act and overhaul the fiduciary duties of board directo...

26 March, 2021

Survey reveals lack of policies and procedures for corporate ethics

The difficulties of driving companies towards more socially responsible behaviour has been illustrated this week by research revealing the corporate struggle over ethics. After studying 750 compani...