Corporate governance has faced immense scrutiny recently following the high-profile collapses of BHS in 2016 and Carillion in January 2018, with MPs, the media and the public blaming the actions of the directors and auditors and all asking the same question… where was the board?

MPs, shareholders and the public have also been asking 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. In July 2018 the FRC released a new UK Corporate Governance Code, (the Code) for listed companies in the UK. It also issued an update on its Guidance on Board Effectiveness. The Code is applicable to all companies with a premium listing, whether incorporated in the UK or elsewhere.

The new Code applies to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019, so with that in mind, this Common Practices report looks at how companies have been reporting on the current Code. We look at some good examples of reporting and look at the “explanations” made regarding compliance with the Code. We also discuss what’s new in the 2018 Code to enable readers to prepare for the upcoming changes.

The annual reports of 25 UK listed companies with year-ends between 31 December 2017 and 30 September 2018 were selected at random for review, across a range of industries. The full list of sample companies detailing company name, period end, auditor and industry classification can be found at the end of this report.