Criticism of use of boilerplate responses and lack of detailed disclosure, particularly on pension alignment and succession planning, has been flagged in the FRC’s latest review of reporting against the UK Corporate Governance Code
While the Financial Reporting Council highlighted a number of areas where disclosures were limited, it said that there was a general improvement in reporting against the Code.
The report highlights areas of high-quality reporting, however, there is still room for further improvement in areas such as substantive disclosures on board appointments, succession planning and diversity.
There was also a need for more focus on reporting the effectiveness of internal control and risk management systems which would enhance the level of confidence in the company’s control framework.
There was criticism of the tendency to use a boilerplate approach and the use of declaratory statements, which were not substantiated by actions or examples, and therefore do not offer insight into company governance.
