On 29 August 2017, the Government published a response to the green paper on corporate governance reform that it had issued in November 2016. Within the proposals in the response, the Government proposed to invite the FRC to develop a set of corporate governance principles for large private companies. We published a client memorandum on the Government's response in September 2017 and it is available via the link below.
The Companies (Miscellaneous Reporting) Regulations 2018, published on 11 June 2018 and discussed more generally below, set out reporting obligations which require a company to state the corporate governance code it applies, how the company applies that code and if the company departed from that code, how and why the company departed from it. This new reporting requirement applies to all companies that have either (i) more than 2,000 employees, or (ii) a turnover of more than £200 million, and a balance sheet of more than £2 billion. The regulations will come into force on 1 January 2019, if approved in their current form.
On 13 June 2018, the FRC issued a draft of the Wates Corporate Governance Principles for Large Private Companies for public consultation. The FRC has drafted the principles to help companies comply with the Companies (Miscellaneous Reporting) Regulations 2018. Companies will be able to adopt voluntarily the Wates Corporate Governance Principles when making a disclosure in accordance with the regulations about the company's application of a corporate governance code.
The FRC is seeking comments on the principles by 7 September 2018.
The principles can be accessed here:
Our client memorandum on the Government's response in August 2017 can be accessed here:
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.