Rapporter & tendenser

Fortsat meget få kvindelige topchefer i europæiske børsselskaber: Af en opgørelse fra proxyrådgivere ISS fremgår det, at der fortsat i de fleste europæiske lande er en meget lav andel af kvindelige direktionsmedlemmer. Hvor andelen af kvindelige bestyrelsesmedlemmer over de seneste fem år er steget meget markant, går det utroligt langsomt fremad med kvinder i direktionslokalet. Opgørelsen viser eksempelvis, at kvindeandelen på CEO-posten I Sverige kun er to procent, mod en andel på 37 procent i bestyrelseslokalet. Sverige er endda næstbedst, kun overgået af Frankrig med fire procent kvinder på CEO-posterne, og 43 procent i bestyrelsen. CEO kvindeandelen blandt danske large cap selskaber ligger også meget lavt. Kun én kvinde, nemlig Sydbanks Karen Frøsig, sidder i toppen. En amerikansk undersøgelse af kvindeandelen i Russell 3000 virksomheder viser, at der er flest kvinder i direktionen indenfor forsyning, cykliske forbrugsvarer og health care. Langt de mest almindelige direktionsfunktioner er HR, jura og administration.

PWC i UK får kæmpebøde for at sminke regnskab af virksomhed lige før den kollapsede. Engelske The Guardian rapporterer , at “BHS’s accounts were misleading and featured unrealistic forecasts before Sir Philip Green sold the now collapsed department store chain, according to a report into the role of the retailer’s auditor, PwC. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said BHS’s 2014 accounts were “incomplete, inaccurate and misleading” because they said Taveta, BHS’s owner, would provide it with financial support. But Taveta’s backing only applied while it owned BHS. When the audit was signed in March 2015, BHS was days away from being sold for £1 in a deal that eventually led to its collapse. The watchdog’s report, which was changed after Green objected to its contents , shines a light on BHS’s accounting and the failure of PwC and the firm’s senior audit partner Steve Denison to scrutinise the business. The FRC fined PwC a record £6.5m in June and banned Denison from audit work for 15 years . Denison was also fined a record £325,000.

US: Fem Take Aways fra generalforsamlingerne forår 2018. ”This proxy season we are seeing enhanced disclosure around board composition, gains in board gender diversity and more companies disclosing investor engagement. These changes reflect shared goals between companies and institutional investors around the benefits of having a diverse board aligned to corporate strategy and key risks. At the same time, more investors are using proxy votes to amplify the call for more women on boards and to support increased transparency and accountability on environmental and social issues. Overall, investor support remains high—more than 90% average support—for director elections and executive compensation programs across various sectors and market capitalization, despite growing scrutiny of executive compensation and board composition across many dimensions. This post provides five key takeaways for boards as they reflect on this proxy season and evolving governance developments,” hedder det i en gennemgang . Blandt andet fremhæves det, at de amerikanske S&P 500 selskaber er blevet meget bedre til at beskrive og forklare, hvorfor bestyrelsen er sammensat, som den er. 68 procent har en kompetence indenfor corporate finance/regnskab/revision. 55 procent har branchekompetencer, og 51 procent har medlemmer med international eller global markedserfaring.

Proxyrådgivere stiller skarpt på travle bestyrelsesmedlemmer, og de stemmer imod valg på generalforsamlingen, hvis de har ”for travlt.” I en gennemgang hedder det, at ”Approximately 19 procent of Russell 3000 board members currently occupy more than one board seat, making it far from an oddity for a director to sit on multiple boards. The issue many shareholders and boards encounter is where to draw the line between a knowledgeable and practiced director and one who is possibly unable to fulfill their duties due to excessive commitments. Proxy advisor Glass Lewis makes this distinction clear in its most recent proxy guidelines , recommending that “shareholders vote against a director who serves as an executive officer of any public company while serving on more than two public company boards and any other director who serves on more than five public company boards.” As of June 2018, the Russell 3000 contains only one over-boarded outside director based on Glass Lewis’ guidelines and 43 executive officers who serve on more than the recommended two public boards. Of the 44 over-boarded directors, 80% are male and 20% are female, which follows general board diversity trends as reported in the most recent Equilar Gender Diversity Index .”