Event report.

A letter published by the Financial Times on May 21 2019. Paywall.

The annual general meeting season is now upon us. An ever-growing cadre of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) specialists, scalpels sharpened, join journalists in scouring annual reports to find egregious CEO pay to dissect and attack in the interest of good stewardship. More power to their elbows.

This report was created in colloboration with the Moscow International Financial Centre, Forum Analytical Centre and the API, and is supported by the British Embassy Moscow. The aim of the report is provide a list of best practices in responsible investment for the benefit of the Russian business community. For more information download the report. 

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are starting to move capital in a meaningful way. There are now trillions of dollars of assets managed under responsible investment strategies. ESG investment has come a long way in a short time and the increasing influence of millennials suggests it still has much further to go. That is why, for asset owners and asset managers, integrating ESG into their investment processes is no longer an optional extra.

The postmortem on U.K. construction giant Carillion Plc is now well underway, with a U.K. parliamentary inquiry into the firm’s collapse holding hearings on Tuesday. One early conclusion should be clear: Britain’s corporate governance code has a fatal flaw, and the way it is applied may help to mask the errors and mismanagement that led to Carillion’s collapse.

This letter from Guy Jubb to the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) was submitted in response to its invitation to comment on proposed revisions to the UK Corporate Governance Code and concludes ‘…it is essential that over time the FRC and its leaders exhort boards, shareholders and voting advisory agencies to embrace the spirit of ‘comply or explain’ in fulfilling their respective responsibilities’. 

Corporate governance and stewardship have transformed the reputation of UK companies over the past three decades, thanks in large part to Guy Jubb, but, as the pioneer of good corporate citizenship, he says there is still much to do

If a corrupt culture infects the financial reporting process, it is like a cancer that progressively undermines the true and fair view of the financial statements unless it is treated – and treated swiftly and effectively