Corporate governance has come under fire recently as MPs, shareholders and the public ask how effective the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) Corporate Governance Code has been in deterring poor corporate governance at the UK’s largest companies, following a raft of corporate failures.

But is this what the Code was designed to do? Rather than enforcing strict rules, the Code is there to ensure boards consider and assess potential risks and to guide directors on how to run a company instead of protecting companies from corporate failures. After all, how effective can a Code be when it does not have the backing of sanctions and is not mandatory?