Vince Cable announces summit to reshape corporate culture in big business
A summit of senior business leaders and government will be held to establish the best way to reshape and improve corporate culture.
A summit made up of senior business leaders and government representatives will be held to establish the best way to reshape and improve corporate culture for the 21st century.
Speaking at the Audit Quality Forum at the Mansion House, the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, will announce a summit to take place on 19 March 2015 that will establish the next steps for improving corporate culture, putting transparency and employee confidence at the heart of every business.
To be discussed during the summit will be how to set up a benchmarking process to measure the progress in corporate culture. Attendees at the summit will be consulted on the best way to take this forward.
Senior business representatives, the trade unions and academics will be invited to the summit to discuss how progress in improving corporate culture can be made without further regulation.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said:
Government has worked hard to set the right frameworks within which companies can improve their corporate culture. I have done a lot to address and improve corporate behaviour by prompting a shift away from short-term thinking; reforming executive pay and putting a greater emphasis on active stewardship by investors. However, improving corporate culture – so employees feel valued, listened to, and confident about raising concerns – requires further action.
Recent corporate scandals point to systemic bad practice at the heart of some businesses. This needs to be addressed, which is why I am calling a summit in 10 days’ time that will include some of the country’s biggest businesses to hammer out how we can drive tangible improvements in corporate culture. Many companies have seen the benefit of transforming their working cultures. I want the means to such success to be readily available to other businesses.
The summit will focus on what action needs to be taken to encourage adherence to the spirit, as well as the letter, of the corporate governance frameworks that government has introduced.
The Business Secretary will also take the opportunity to outline the work that has been done in the areas of audit, short-termism, executive pay reforms and business human rights. He will highlight:
- the implementation of the new Audit Directive and Regulation
- the government response to the Kay Review of UK equity markets and long-term decision making
- work with the Financial Reporting Council to encourage stewardship investing
- the great strides being made to increase the number of women on boards
The summit will take place on 19 March 2015 from 1pm to 3pm in the 1 Victoria Street conference centre.