Corporate governance

Corporate governance is the system by which companies are directed and controlled. Boards of directors are responsible for the governance of their companies. The shareholders' role in governance is to appoint the directors and the auditors and to satisfy themselves that an appropriate governance structure is in place. The responsibilities of the board include setting the company's strategic aims, providing the leadership to put them into effect, supervising the management of the business and reporting to shareholders on their stewardship. The board's actions are subject to laws, regulations and the shareholders in general meeting.

The corporate governance environment in the UK has been evolving since the late 1980s following a number of high profile corporate scandals. In 1992, a committee chaired by Sir Adrian Cadbury issued the Cadbury Report on corporate governance. Over a number of years, the Cadbury Report and other recommendations have been brought together into a single code of recommended corporate governance now known as the UK Corporate Governance Code (UKCG Code), previously known as the Combined Code, published by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC).

The corporate governance regime

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