Summer 2018
Corporate culture key to UK Governance Code
Following the publication of the new UK Corporate Governance Code last month, corporate culture looks set to become a boardroom issue. Under the section on leadership and company purpose, the code states that a board ‘must establish the company’s purpose, values and strategy and satisfy itself that these and its culture are aligned’.
To do this, boards will be required to assess and monitor culture. Where they are not satisfied that these are aligned, the board is now expected to ‘seek assurances that the management has taken corrective action.’ Any activities and action taken by the board should be explained in the annual report.
In our white paper Measuring Ethical Culture, we argued that while culture may appear intangible and hard to measure, boards need to find a way to do just that. This will involve identifying the right culture indicators to enable them to assess whether good corporate behaviour is properly embedded.
This approach is supported by the Financial Reporting Council’s guidance on the new code which urges boards to identify and track typical features of a positive culture. Based on our experience of assessing and measuring corporate behaviour, we have identified the key drivers of an ethical company culture and devised a methodology to assist boards with the new monitoring and reporting demands.
GDPR is not over
May 25th was not the finishing line for GDPR. So while much of the panic may be over, there is still work to be done to ensure compliance with the new legislation.
Elizabeth Denham, the UK’s Information Commissioner, describes GDPR as an ongoing journey that requires continuous effort. Businesses will be expected to “continue to identify and address emerging privacy and security risks in the weeks, months and years beyond May 2018”.
Our latest blog summarises five key reasons why GDPR isn’t over and outlines what organisations need to do to ensure long-term compliance.
An ethical future for AI
Despite the widespread use of AI across a range of industries and services, no country has established, as yet, an ethical or legal framework to govern its development.
AI is still relatively embryonic, but the pace of change is rapid and the investment considerable. It has the potential to transform economies and benefit humanity, but to do this successfully it will need to be both reliable and trusted.
Businesses and those at the vanguard of AI development cannot afford to wait for regulators to set the bar and define the ethical or regulatory framework. Our blog explores some of the key ethical considerations.
In Brief...
Latest Debate
With poor corporate culture perceived to be a business risk in itself, what should companies be doing to mitigate that risk and ensure they have the right culture in place?
Our summer business ethics debate explored the value, strategic importance and practicalities of measuring corporate culture.
As with all our debates, the summary is on the website.
Ethics & compliance benchmarking
Does your organisation have a stand-alone ethics and compliance function? Who does it report to? How often are due diligence checks carried out on third parties?
These are just some of the questions we posed at the session on compliance programme benchmarking that we moderated at the C5 Anti-Corruption event this summer. The results are available on our blog.
Safeguarding survey
GoodCorporation has conducted its first safeguarding survey, inviting a range of organisations to respond.
The survey aimed to discover how organisations govern, resource, assess and monitor safeguarding.
The results will be published in a forthcoming paper. We will also be inviting respondents to a safeguarding event in September to review the findings. Contact us for details.
Sapin II debate in Paris
Following the success of our debate on the challenges of implementing GDPR, GoodCorporation will be hosting another discussion in Paris in September.
This time the debate will focus on the demands placed on French businesses by Sapin II.
The debate will take place at the Salons France Amériques on Thursday September 13. Contact us for more information.