RSS feedsThe huge increase in corporate governance has resulted in a 15% decrease in the number of board meetings at the UK’s largest companies.
Research by Cass Business School found that the average number of board meetings has fallen to eight per year – regardless of performance, market fluctuation or pension problems. The average chairman’s remuneration has increased to £359,000.
Cass also delved into ‘the old boys’ network of recruitment for non-executive director positions and found that despite corporate governance guidelines “most” non-executive directors are still recruited from this network. Statistically, they will be 56-year-old males when they join the board.
“Our research shows that rather than improving the effectiveness of company boards, the big brother approach of corporate governance has negative consequences to the activity of the board,” says Peter Hahn of Cass Business School. “We need a rethink so that corporate governance works to make boards more, not less, effective and stops the trend of boards becoming peripheral to company performance.”
