Corporate governance is more than a regulatory requirement for listed companies – it is widely accepted to be good business practice and has a value beyond compliance when organisations seize risk and make it work to their advantage.

Managing risk as part of good corporate governance makes companies more efficient, and gives stakeholders more confidence in a company’s future. In Europe and the US, a series of high-profile failures including fraud and accounting irregularities, have led shareholders to demand greater assurances that organisations are managing themselves responsibly and in a transparent way.

By meeting their corporate governance demands, companies can demonstrate they are well managed, identify threats to their corporate survival and provide stakeholders with confidence that the organisation’s strategic objectives will be achieved.

Critical questions you need to consider

• To what extent are you identifying and communicating risks to the best of your ability?
• Have you thought about how your corporate governance obligations can be incorporated into existing business processes and activities?
• To what extent are you involving your stakeholders?
• Are you aware of the enabling activities for corporate governance to succeed, such as good communication, the right culture and attitudes within your business?

Click here for your copy of the Marsh white paper, ‘Ten years of the Combined Code: Developments in risk reporting’.