Corporate Citizenship

Mr Gradgrind, you remember him?
He was the miserable old git in Dickens’ Hard Times. He said: “In this life, we want nothing but facts, sir, nothing but facts”
But is it true? Some companies clearly believe not. Companies like BT, Kingfisher and Shell commission expert panels as part of the assurance process.  Thereby readers can see [...]

It may be that there is something wrong with me but I am puzzled by many of the eleven reporters who don’t use AA1000AS or ISAE3000 as the basis of their assurance.
My problem is not that I think that these must be the only choices.
After all there are ice creams that are neither vanilla nor [...]

The government has clearly heard of the self-basting Turkey. They have tried to imitate it with the self-invalidating policy.
Dr Cable unveiled his prescription for the wickedness of fat cat pay in general and bankers’ bonuses in particular: SHAREHOLDER POWER. Oh, yes. Get the owners of the business to lay down [...]

My survey of FTSE100 companies showed that more than half do not have non-financial assurance.
But what of those that do?
What sort of assurance is it? What standard do they follow?
Doing the analysis I was forcibly reminded of the controversy about what question should be on the ballot paper when the Scots vote in Mr Salmond’s [...]

So Dr Cable has announced his ‘balanced’ measures to deal with top pay.
And so can we expect toughness with RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, both effectively government controlled?
Nope.

Recently I was asked to contribute to a UNPRI webinar on assurance. I thought that I should check a few facts before sharing my opinions. Perverse behaviour I agree, but I am that sort of guy.
I was surprised by what I found.
Never a one to let good research go to waste, I determined to share [...]

Which view is right?
Friday’s papers reported that Shell is closing its Final Salary Pension scheme to new recruits. The name of the type of pension is misleading. What differentiates this type of scheme is that it guarantees a certain level of retirement income with the employer taking the financial risks involved in doing so.
Unusually for [...]

On Fat Cat Pay the PM flunked it.
Flunked it!!?!!?!!!!
Yes. Here’s how.
President Truman’s catchphrase was: “The buck stops here”. With top pay the buck doesn’t stop anywhere. It ought to stop with the owners: the shareholders.
Cameron should have said: “Pay packages are the responsibility of the shareholders and no-one else. Find your backbones. Get it sorted.”
Yet [...]

Only the first week of January but we already have a strong contender for Twaddle-merchant of 2012!
From the depth of his Brussels bunker, the EU Commissioner for Green Affairs warns us: “It’s very difficult to imagine [lifting Europe out of recession] without growth, and very difficult to imagine growth without competitiveness, and very difficult to [...]

I saw the headline.
I read it.
It said: “’Green deal’ will fail, government’s climate advisers warn”.
I thought: “They’re at it again. The green lobby moan. Moan, moan, moan”.
But no.
It turns out that the attack on the government comes not from a sandal-wearer with a flat in Kemptown. It is from Lord Turner former CEO of the [...]