Board of UK companies have begun to put in place some of the structural changes proposed in the 2010 version of the UK Corporate Governance Code. The 2011 UK Board Index survey of the headhunters Spencer Stuart looked at the governance practices in the top 150 companies. Some of its findings were: - Risk committees: These committees were one of the chief recommendations of the Walker Review of governance in the financial services industry in 2009. Spencer Stuart noted that they are becoming more common in that sector. In other companies, risk still tends to be considered by the audit committee or the full board.
- Board evaluation: The number of boards using outside facilitators for their annual evaluations has almost doubled. The new code asked the outsiders be engaged one year in three.
- More sitting CEOs on boards: More CEOs are sitting on outside boards, but fewer CFOs are doing so. This finding is in contrast to the trend in the US version of the firm's survey in 2011.
- Internationalisation: The latest survey showed a 33 per cent increase in the number of foreign non-executive directors during the survey period. It would be worthwhile giving this figure some closer scrutiny, as the changes in the makeup of the top 150 companies has changes markedly, with several large US-focused companies having disappeared from the stock market, replaced by large foreign companies with London listings.
- Women on boards: More female directors have been appointed, although the pipeline of female senior executives still looks thin. For the first time, the UK Board Index examines the numbers of women on executive leadership teams and their roles in the organisation.
Source document: The Spencer Stuart UK Board Index 2011 is a 52-page pdf file.
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