Company Secretaries Must Engage with Business Issues According to CBI

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According to the Confederation of British Industries (CBI), company secretaries across the UK need to engage more with the issues arising in the day-to-day running of the business, reports provider of company secretarial services London Registrars (https://www.london-registrars.co.uk/).

President of the CBI Sir Roger Carr has publically declared the need for the role of company secretary to include more direct engagement with key issues which arise in the general running of the business – issues such as shareholder engagement, transparency and diversity. ‘Company secretaries are key players and have an important part to play in improving the overall perception of business,’ he said. ‘Big business is very often viewed as bad business. That’s unhealthy – mostly unwarranted – and fails to recognise the key ingredient business plays in all our lives – as the engine of wealth creation. We have to change the perception of business through good governance and great performance.’

Sir Carr encouraged company secretaries to help facilitate corporate governance in general, along with providing some specific pointers:

  • encourage their chairmen to use an external facilitator for their board reviews;
  • ensure that annual reports are in a digestible and informative format;
  • get involved in government consultations;
  • pay heed to the recommendation of the Davies report on gender diversity in boards.

Addressing the need for the company secretary to help the business ‘to be good and look good’, Sir Carr stated that ‘Performance and governance must go hand in hand and you (as Company Secretaries) clearly are all key players
.We all must remember that it’s not rules and regulation that make good business, it’s good people – operational, advisory, executive and non-executive. A diverse board, comprising members with integrity, enthusiasm and independence of mind served by a company secretary up to speed on the rules and willing to stand up for their enforcement. It takes skill, knowledge but most of all, it takes character.’

Businesses can ensure full compliance with corporate governance best practice, including these CBI guidelines, by securing the company secretarial services of London Registrars. Find out more at https://www.london-registrars.co.uk/.

Compliance with Corporate Governance Linked to Performance, Study Reveals

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As a leading corporate and legal support firm, London Registrars is acutely aware of the importance of company compliance. Indeed, assisting organisations with governance and compliance lies at the heart of the London Registrars service offering. Now, a new study has found that complying with the UK Corporate Governance Code is linked to a company’s general financial performance. Continue reading

ICSA Finds NHS Boards Failing on Corporate Governance

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As specialists in company compliance and corporate governance, London Registrars (https://www.london-registrars.co.uk/) understands that there can often be a gap between best practice in theory and the practical reality of running an organisation. Research published earlier this year in The ICSA Chartered Secretary Magazine revealed that this is indeed the case within the NHS; that NHS boards are failing in key areas of corporate governance.

The ICSA research project, the results of which were published in the magazine in August of this year, was called ‘Mapping the Gap’ and involved analysing 1,277 board agendas and carrying out 176 questionnaires and interviews with participating NHS board members. ICSA identified four key areas of corporate governance as the focus of this research: strategy; decision-making; clinical and quality matters; and probity and transparency. The principal findings of the study which pointed to a significant gap between best practice in theory and in reality were:

  • 10 per cent of agenda items were regarding strategy, markedly failing the best practice recommendations of 60 per cent;
  • Just 5 per cent of NHS boards aligned clinical and quality issues to strategic objectives;
  • Board members were more frequently issued with items to note than asked for concrete decisions;
  • Just 75 per cent of board agendas included items which were declarations of interest;
  • Clinical and quality issues took up between 4 and 13 per cent of the top five agenda items, failing to reach the governance guidelines of a minimum of 20 per cent;
  • 1 per cent of those surveyed in the questionnaires agreed that a priority for the board was involving the public in shaping NHS healthcare services.

Seamus Gillen, Director of Policy at ICSA, stated in the magazine that “Good practice governance allows NHS Trusts to be efficient, effective, and accountable. It underpins everything. These findings illustrate that there is a gap between good practice and what happens in reality. We need far more emphasis on strategy and effective decision-making if NHS boards are to achieve their objectives in an increasingly fluid environment”.

With the expert assistance of corporate and legal support firm London Registrars, organisations can ensure that they are meeting best practice targets in corporate governance. Find out more athttps://www.london-registrars.co.uk/.

Office of Fair Trading Bans Gym Unfair Contract Terms

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The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) secured a High Court order earlier this year which sought to ban gym unfair contract terms in the UK, reports company secretarial services provider London Registrars (https://www.london-registrars.co.uk/). The case highlighted the need for gyms to check their contract terms to ensure they are within the law and whether they need to let their customers know of any changes to the terms of their contracts at any time. Continue reading

Small Businesses Could Cut the Red Tape of Financial Reporting According to New Proposals

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Financial and corporate reporting is a hugely time consuming affair for a company of any size. But company compliance with financial reporting is particularly difficult for smaller businesses with fewer in-house resources to assist with this function. Here, corporate governance experts London Registrars (https://www.london-registrars.co.uk/) looks at a government-led discussion paper which proposes to cut this form of red tape for small businesses. Continue reading

High Profile FSA Final Notice Breach of DTR 5.8.3R

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A recent high profile case, details of which were published on the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) website, serves as a reminder as to the importance of substantial shareholders declaring their interests in full and in a timely fashion, reports company complianceand corporate support firm London Registrars (https://www.london-registrars.co.uk/).

In August of this year, the FSA published a final notice which imposed a penalty of £210,000 on the former chairman of Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc, Sir Ken Morrison, for a breach of DTR 5.8.3R. The FSA’s guidelines state DTR 5.8 to be “procedures for the notification and disclosure of major holdings”, with DTR 5.8.3R stipulating that “the notification to the issuer shall be effected as soon as possible”. The final penalty notice stated that between 16 September 2009 and 21 June 2010, Mr Morrison’s voting rights in Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc had fallen below 6%, 5%, 4% and 3%. It went on to state that Mr Morrison failed to notify the company of the transactions causing the reduction in voting rights until 1 March 2011, which led to the company not being in a position to update the market in accordance with DTR 5.8.12R(1) of FSA guidelines. This meant that Mr Morrison’s level of shareholding was not listed correctly in the company’s annual report placed on 31 January 2010. Both the significant delay in making the required notification and Mr Morrison’s prominent position were taken into account by the FSA when considering the failings and levying the penalty.

While this is a particularly high profile case, it does serve to remind all substantial shareholders of UK companies the importance of DTR 5.8. London Registrars assists with company compliance in this matter, managing the register where substantial shareholders declare their interests, as well as generally advising on when declarations must be made, including in cases where directors are also substantial shareholders.

This is just one area of corporate governance and legal support offered by London Registrars, which also provides company secretarial services. For further details on the full range of services, go to https://www.london-registrars.co.uk/.