Comparing codes: trends in codes of governance
Sarah Loader, CT Consultant, identifies key trends across the Charity, UK Corporate and Sports Code of Governance as well as highlighting differences. Since the Cadbury report into corporate governance was published in 1992, a number of codes of governance have been produced for a range of sectors, each aiming to raise standards of governance and to provide reassurance to stakeholders and the wider public, often after high profile failures or when dubious practices have come to light. Adopting a code of governance can provide external validation of the effectiveness of an organisation. It can also provide organisations with a template against which they can seek assurance on their own performance and improve their systems where necessary. In some cases adopting a code might be the only way of accessing funding. Key governance trends To identify key trends, we are looking at three codes in particular: • the Charity Governance Code, the most recent version of which was published in 2017; • the Code for Sports Governance, which was introduced in 2016; • and the most recent version of the UK Corporate Governance Code, which comes into effect from 2019. Not surprisingly there are many similarities between the codes, as explored...