Standards & Guidance
Combined Code consultation launched
The Financial Reporting
Council (FRC) is inviting views on progress made in implementation of the
Combined Code on Corporate Governance.
Covered by the assessment are issues such as whether the
Code has helped improve board performance, its impact on smaller companies, and
the effectiveness of its “comply or explain” approach.
Sir Christopher Hogg, FRC chairman, said that while
feedback received to date suggests the Code is working reasonably well, the
assessment is designed to discover whether this view is shared by the market as
a whole.
Lombard, writing in the
Financial Times (19 April), argued that although the Code has its critics,
Hogg should be wary of paying them too much attention.
The Code, said Lombard, is in reality highly flexible,
based on principles few directors would disagree with, and the only hard rule is
that companies should comply with the guidelines or explain why they have not.
If chairmen feel constrained by the Code, said Lombard, then they have
misinterpreted it.
Comment on the
consultation paper
is invited by 20 July.
Links
Financial Reporting Council
Financial Times
consultation paper
May 2007
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