Culture Report - Black Sun's newest publication
The UK 2014 Corporate Governance Code emphasised the key role of the board in establishing the culture, values and ethics of the company. In particular, the importance of the board in setting the correct ‘tone from the top’, and leading by example to ensure that good standards of behaviour permeate throughout all levels of the organisation. The argument being that there are strong links between governance and establishing a culture that supports long-term success and prevents misconduct and unethical practices.
The number of scandals we have seen in the last year alone tells us that the issue of corporate culture and the conduct and practice that derives from it should be at the top of the agenda for any board going forward.
Indeed, late last year the Financial Reporting Council launched a market-led initiative to gather insight into corporate culture and the role of boards; to understand how boards can shape, embed and assess culture; and to identify and promote good practice.
Only 14% of the FTSE 100 directly report on culture
As a provider of strategic corporate reporting consultancy we take a particular interest in how corporate culture is portrayed in terms of reporting. We specifically look at how culture can be identified as data points which are indicators of corporate culture. None of these indications in isolation reveal much about a company’s culture but held together they form an insightful narrative on a company’s commitment to culture and its ability to implement, measure and evaluate it.
In our latest publication: Corporate Culture – a thought piece on reporting, we discuss some of the culture indicators that can currently be found in annual reports but also how we imagine increased reporting in this area could look like going forward.
The full report can be found here.
If you would like to understand more about how to report on corporate culture, trends in corporate reporting more generally or how your reporting compares to the FTSE 100, please contact:
Anne Kirkeby, Lead Corporate Reporting Consultant