The regulations around corporate governance and reporting are complex; keeping abreast of these ever-changing requirements is challenging. The next three years will be an unusually busy period of fundamental change and is a pivotal moment in the evolution of governance and reporting regulation.
In recent times, there has been increased activism and shareholder revolts over environmental and social issues, gender equality, diversity and inclusion and excessive executive pay.
This is a reaction to the high-profile corporate collapses of Enron and Worldcom in the early 2000s, the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 and the financial crisis that followed and a continued string of corporate scandals and failures in the last five years including Carillion, household names such as Thomas Cook, Sports Direct, Tesco, BHS, Volkswagen and Patisserie Valerie, and even charities such as Kids Company and Oxfam.
The recent investor caution over the $48 billion valuation of We Work for its IPO stemmed from underlying governance issues. Once exposed the IPO was withdrawn, the CEO and founder Adam Neumann stepped down and the company valuation dropped to $8 billion. Ensuring transparent governance practices with clear reporting has never been more critical for businesses.