The Boardroom Blog
Wednesday, September 01, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Thought Leadership
| Tags: business models,
Alex Connock,
business,
links,
Ros Simmons,
retail,
media,
diary,
CEO,
chief exec
Chief executives Alex Connock and Ros Simmons were both facing tough challenges in their business last summer. One was fighting a shifting media battlefield seeking new business models; the other was taking her retail company international. Every week, they blogged their thoughts and agendas here on the Grant Thornton Thinking Blogs. Here’s how they did…
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Tuesday, August 31, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Thought Leadership
| Tags: Government,
military,
Ian Wilson,
Defence,
Aerospace
Given unprecedented fiscal pressures inherited by the new UK Government, there is an increasing recognition that the UK will have to reassess how it seeks to assert itself militarily. Given the poor condition of the country’s public finances, it is a widely-held view that the UK simply cannot afford to buy and support military assets to simultaneously project air, sea and land force capabilities on a global scale; nor can it expect to address several major conflicts while maintaining effective security at home.
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Friday, August 27, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Thought Leadership
| Tags: LSE,
David Grundy,
AIM,
Gerry Beaney,
Lloyds Banking Group,
Umerah Akram,
Andrew Wright,
Cobbetts,
Seminar,
Mike Stevenson
Grant Thornton Manchester is hosting a private dining experience to explore the opportunities, threats, challenges and debates surrounding AIM.
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Thursday, August 26, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
FRC,
Governance,
Risk
| Tags: FRC,
Simon Lowe,
governance,
risk,
financial reporting,
internal,
FRRP,
accounts,
audit,
external
Inconsistencies in annual reports between the corporate narrative and the external audit figures are becoming more of a focus for the Financial Reporting Review Panel (FRRP). The problem was highlighted in its annual report, out last week: of the 308 companies reviewed, 146 had been approached by the FRRP for further information or explanation.
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Research,
Thought Leadership
| Tags: business models,
survey,
innovation,
report,
retail,
strategy,
agenda
What questions should you be asking this year if you’re sitting on a retail board? Following on from our survey post last week Pressured retailers need to review their business models, here are some suggested questions to bring to your next board meet.
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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Research
| Tags: business models,
survey,
innovation,
Strategy,
boardroom,
report,
retail
Insights from our latest sector survey, Pressure unabated: UK retailers contemplate business model change, should fuel boardroom discussions in the competitive UK retail sector, which has experienced a profound shift from the emergence of the internet as both a shop window and a retail outlet.
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Friday, August 06, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
FRC,
Governance
| Tags: FRC,
Corporate Governance,
Simon Lowe,
governance,
Board,
UK Corporate Governance Code,
ICSA,
Financial Reporting Council,
NED
A well designed decision making process is one of the most important characteristics of an effective board. As such boards should not allow themselves to be influenced by a dominant personality or have “no go” areas for non-executives.
Ask yourself - is such a situation familiar to you?
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Monday, June 21, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Corruption,
Governance,
Research,
Thought Leadership
Since the draft Bribery Bill was first published in 2008, it is not just the law that has changed but also attitudes to its enforcement.
There has been an unprecedented level of engagement ahead of the enactment of new legislation by the lead law enforcement agency.
However, despite this increased enforcement activity, our Anti-corruption survey suggests many businesses and their boards seem not to be taking corruption risk or the new Act seriously.
We consider the following steps to be key in establishing the right environment for UK companies….
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Friday, June 18, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Non-executive director
| Tags: FT,
non-executive director,
Lesley Stephenson,
Walpole,
Zygos Partnership,
Julia Budd,
Jardine Lloyd Thompson,
Greenhill & Co International LLP,
Mark Henderson,
Standard Chartered,
Graphic Alliance,
Odgers Berndtson,
John Paynter,
Gieves and Hawkes,
Kit Bingham
The role of a non-executive director offers satisfying and stimulating career development for senior business individuals. But how do you find and land the best roles? Heather Farmbrough sets out the steps you need to take
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Friday, June 18, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Governance
| Tags: Francesca Lagerberg,
George Osborne,
Stephen Gifford,
Budget,
Rebecca Pritchard,
Clive Fathers,
webinar,
Emergency Budget,
advice, analysis
We’re inviting you to a special live and interactive Budget webinar this Thursday at 4pm to find out what the new Government’s first Budget means for you. Register here or read on to find out more…
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Wednesday, May 26, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Governance,
Non-executive director,
Stewardship Code
| Tags: FT,
FTSE 350,
risk,
non-executive director,
Peter Butler,
corporate governance review,
Stewardship Code
Part 2 of our interview with Peter Butler, Chief Executive and Founding Partner, Governance for Owners at the recent Financial Times Non Executive Directors’ Club on The FTSE 350 Corporate Governance Review Highlights.
Peter gave us his thoughts on the impact of the proposed Stewardship Code and the role of the Chairman.
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Wednesday, May 26, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Governance,
Non-executive director,
Stewardship Code
| Tags: FT,
FTSE 350,
risk,
non-executive director,
Peter Butler,
corporate governance review,
Stewardship Code
Part 1 of our interview with Peter Butler, Chief Executive and Founding Partner, Governance for Owners at the recent Financial Times Non Executive Directors’ Club on The FTSE 350 Corporate Governance Review Highlights.
Peter gave us his thoughts on the impact of the proposed Stewardship Code and the role of the Chairman.
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Thursday, May 06, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Corruption,
Fraud,
Governance,
Non-executive director,
Risk
| Tags: FTSE 350,
non-executive director,
corporate governance review,
UK Corporate Governance Code
The Financial Times Non-Executive Directors Club is holding a practical and interactive workshop for experienced non-executives on 10 June 2010 to discuss the implications of risk, fraud and corruption to the non-executive directors’ role.
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Tuesday, April 06, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Non-executive director
| Tags: FT,
non-executive director,
survey,
recruitment,
NED,
remuneration
The Financial Times, in association with Grant Thornton, are undertaking a survey of existing and aspiring non-executive directors in the UK to learn more about this unique sector.
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Monday, March 15, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Governance
| Tags: New Business Models,
business models,
listed,
Board,
The Economist,
Strategy
We commissioned The Economist Intelligence Unit to survey UK executives on how assumptions on business models have changed, and how companies are planning to adapt over the next 18 months.
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Monday, March 01, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Governance,
Non-executive director
| Tags: FT,
FRC,
FTSE 350,
Simon Lowe,
non-executive director,
Sir Christopher Hogg,
Peter Butler,
corporate governance review,
UK Corporate Governance Code,
Risk Capital Partners,
Seamus Gillen,
ICSA,
Luke Johnson,
Owners,
Financial Reporting Council
The Financial Times Non-Executive Directors Club is holding a twilight event on 11 March to discuss the implications to the non-executive directors’ role in light of recent governance releases.
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Friday, February 26, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
| Tags: technology,
Grant Thornton,
Wendy Hart,
investors,
Simon Davies,
Himanshu Raja,
Ash Hussain,
Corporate Finance,
BT Design,
Niki Dixon,
Martin Rowland,
SaaS,
Axial Systems,
cloud computing,
ICT,
LDC,
Software as a Service,
Information and Communication Technologies,,
private equity,
UK firms specialised in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) continue to attract private equity investors, according to our recent ‘Where is the Smart Money Going in ICT?’ report. The survey of the 40 leading private equity investors backing UK ICT firms recorded 84% as saying that their firm planned to undertake an acquisition in the UK ICT sector over the next 12 months.
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Friday, February 12, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Governance
| Tags: FRC, governance, stewardship code, institutional investors
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has set its sights on improving the transparency of engagement between institutional investors and investee companies through its recently published consultation paper.
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Friday, February 12, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Governance
| Tags: FRC, Walker, governance, FTSE 350, Combined Code, non-executive directors, Corporate Governance Review, Grant Thornton
February sees the release of our eighth annual FTSE 250 Corporate Governance Review. This year the review shows that the FTSE 350 are now complying with, on average, 91% of the Code’s provisions. So is it job done?
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Thursday, January 28, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Governance
| Tags: FRC,
FTSE 350,
governance,
Murray,
Audit Firm Governance Code,
ICAEW
Grant Thornton UK LLP CEO Scott Barnes has welcomed the publication of the FRC and ICAEW’s Audit Firm Governance Code (the Code) as a positive step in promoting investor confidence in the auditing of listed companies, and promoting competition in the audit market.
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