Contemporary issues in corporate governance – critical repor…

The coursework is in the form of a critical report.

The coursework is an individual piece of work

you should work on this yourself and not as a group. You will be required to make a plagiarism statement, and your submission will be tested for originality.

The use of AI for this assignment has been categorised as

Category 2: Minimal for example, using spell and grammar checkers to help identify mistakes but not rewrite chunks of text. The maximum word allowance suggested is 1,500 words. You must include a word count at the start of your coursework. Critical Report Choose one of the firms in the list, prepare a critical evaluation of the composition, structure and functioning of the board of directors, and the strength of the governance practices adopted by the firm.

British Land Co plc

Compass Group plc

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) plc

National Grid plc

WPP plc

To

prepare this critical evaluation report, you are required to download and analyse the most recent Corporate

Governance Report of the company you have selected (this is usually available on the company corporate

website, and it is part of the Annual Report

).

Page

2

of

4

To develop a critical analysis, you may compare the current governance practices of the firm with those

adopted in prior years, or with reference to the companys strategy (usually discussed in the Strategic

Report) and/or with other companies in the same

industry. Below a list of questions that maybe helpful to

gather basic information and data on which to base the critical evaluation. You are encouraged to develop

your own questions and/or investigations.

1.

How many directors are sitting on the board?

2.

How many executive directors are there? What is their role (CEO, CFO, etc.)?

3.

Does the report tell us how many non

–

executives (NEDs) are independent?

4.

Is the composition of the board in line with indications from best practice (e.g., UK Corporate

Governance Code)? What does the report say about compliance?

5.

What board committees does the company have? Whats their purpose?

6.

How are they composed?

7.

Is the composition of the committees in line with best practice?

8.

Looking at the backgrounds of the individual directors, can you identify experience or expertise

likely to be valuable to the company?

9.

How many business experts does the board have? (who are they?)

10.

How many of the directors are support specialists? (who are they?)

11.

Is there any community influential? If yes, who?

12.

Do you think the NEDs of the board are busy (e.g., hold too many external appointments)? What

would be strategic multiple directorates for a company like the one you are analysing?

13.

How diverse (by gender, nationality, professional background) is the board? And the senior

management team? Why might this company benefit from diversity in its board and senior

management?

14.

Do you think that the corporate governance report provides all the relevant information to assess

the board? What improvements if any could be done?