Who are the top 10 companies for good governance?

British American Tobacco has topped this year’s good governance index in a major new report.

The 2016 Good Governance Report, published by the Institute of Directors (IoD) and sponsored by the CQI, ranks companies based on publically available information and the views of investors, governance professionals and business leaders.

It takes a holistic view of governance in each organisation, examining 34 factors across five areas determined by the UK Corporate Governance Code and Companies Act 2016. These include board effectiveness, audit and risk/external accountability, remuneration and reward, shareholder relations and stakeholder relations.

This year the top 10 also includes Unilever (2nd), Next (5th), Kingfisher (6th) and Royal Mail (9th).

CQI head of profession Estelle Clark said: ‘As sponsors of the report, the CQI strongly advocates a revolution in the way that corporate governance is perceived and embraced, lest shareholders and the wider public become increasingly dissatisfied with the current state of affairs.  

‘Good governance, alongside improvement and assurance, will unshackle a business from the limitations that prevents it from fulfilling its potential.

‘To prevent quality failure, a culture of continual improvement is necessary: ‘job done’ is not a phrase you will ever hear from a quality manager.

‘Assurance means that good governance is embraced throughout a company, not just in the boardroom. After all, how can improvements exist if they live only in the minds of the board of directors? 

‘Operating without good governance equates to running a business on a hope and a prayer. In recent years, the public has looked on with barely contained contempt as countless examples of quality failure reach the front pages.

‘Be it horsemeat appearing in beef burgers or software glitches depriving customers of access to their own money, the public, the shareholder and the consumer will no longer tolerate corporate governance that is anything less than outstanding.

‘At the CQI we look forward to continuing to lead the conversation with the IoD, and making the difference in a field that affects every last one of us.’