Software Tool Launched That Will Help UK Companies Significantly Raise Corporate Governance Standards

LONDON - Software Released as Consultation Closes on the Financial Reporting Council’s Review of UK Corporate Governance

An innovative software service for FTSE company chairmen, directors and company secretaries is launched today, aimed at helping UK companies raise corporate governance standards at a time when they have never been under such intense scrutiny.

The EnForm Corporate Indicator enables company boards to put good governance practice at the heart of board operations, improve communication among the board, management and stakeholders, and facilitate more productive board and committee evaluations.

The Indicator provides a real-time analysis of how an individual company complies with current standards as well as investor expectations. Companies complete a self-certification process that benchmarks their own governance against the best-practice Combined Code on corporate governance, based on 1,400 metrics.

It also assesses companies’ governance against the guidelines of the two main institutional investor bodies, the National Association of Pension Funds and the Association of British Insurers, whose members between them control assets equivalent to nearly half the UK stock market.

EnForm provides a comprehensive, up-to-date and auditable breakdown of the company’s governance strengths and weaknesses, allowing companies to focus on specific areas in need of improvement, enhance board oversight and enable more meaningful reporting. The service has been pioneered by Governance Integrity Solutions (GIS) www.informgis.co.uk.

Given the current downturn and concerns over UK governance standards, the Financial Reporting Council, the UK governance watchdog, has brought forward its review of the Combined Code from next year. A public consultation closed at the end of May 2009.

Jonathan Lewis, CEO of Governance Integrity Solutions, said:

“The recent financial crisis has exposed significant flaws in the way that large UK companies are governed and directed. There’s nothing wrong with the basic infrastructure of UK governance but the challenge remains to implement the system more effectively. The EnForm Corporate Indicator is a tool that will help companies meet that challenge.

“A review of the UK corporate governance regime is underway by the Financial Reporting Council, and a public consultation on the Combined Code has just closed. In our submission, we argued that increased attention needs to be given to risk management, sustainability, implementation and tools for boards to improve monitoring. The EnForm Corporate Indicator will be part of the solution.”

Contacts: Kit Bingham +44(0)20-7630-1411 kbingham@thecommunicationgroup.co.uk

Source: Governance Integrity Solutions Ltd

Contacts: Kit Bingham, +44(0)20-7630-1411, kbingham at thecommunicationgroup.co.uk