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Helping Your Firm to Review its Governance
The FCA considers poor governance in a business as an indicator of significant problems and has identified the following as key characteristics of failed firms:
- A dysfunctional board
- A domineering CEO
- Key posts held by individuals without the required technical competence
- Inadequate ‘four-eyes’ oversight of risk
- An inadequate understanding of the aggregation of risk
Our Corporate Responsibilities Service will help your firm to review its governance arrangements and identify and address any weaknesses in board structure and performance or business systems and controls. It can also provide robust and effective risk identification and management systems and help plug skills and competence gaps in key staff.
To discuss how our Corporate Responsibilities Service can help your business please call us on 01892 539600 or email enquiries to us at:
Download our corporate responsibilities brochure
How ICS Can Help With Corporate Responsibilities
Corporate governance is necessary for a business to operate effectively and for its leaders to make decisions based upon sound information. In a well-run business, roles and responsibilities are clear, decision-making and accountability is transparent and oversight robust.
The ICS Corporate Responsibilities Service will help to:
- Clearly set out responsibilities and reporting structures from the Board down
- Set up effective systems of delegation and accountability
- Introduce robust oversight and scrutiny
Effective systems and controls are essential to implement the strategy and goals set by those who direct and control the business. Crucially, they also provide the infrastructure on which the Board relies to ensure the business operates ethically and in line with legal and regulatory requirements.
Setting up systems and controls is far more than merely drawing up written procedures. The process should involve proper communication and training; it should be underpinned by a programme of monitoring so that efficacy can be rigorously assessed and there should be reliable, up to date and relevant MI which can be regularly reviewed at the right levels.
ICS has extensive experience in this area and we have brought this knowledge and understanding to our Corporate Responsibilities Service. We’ll assist in reviewing systems, identifying any gaps, recommending developments where necessary and, importantly, helping to introduce safeguards so the business can be confident its controls perform as expected.
Robust risk management arrangements will both protect a business and, when appropriate, allow calculated risks to be taken to maximise business opportunities.
Failure to identify and manage risks has brought about the demise of many a business and, while not all risks can be avoided, the majority can at least be mitigated.
Our Corporate Responsibilities Service will enable firms to understand what risks to their business look like, where these may come from and how they can be addressed.
In addition, our unique risk identification software allows you to dig below the surface and really understand the risks and challenges your business faces from the perspective of those who actually implement your systems and procedures on a day to day basis. In our experience this process often provides an eye-opening look at how well your controls actually work in practice.
All too often directors and non-executive directors step into their roles without any support to help develop the necessary skills and abilities and with little or no formal training in the responsibilities and requirements which apply.
For a director or non-executive director of a regulated firm, such responsibilities and requirements are more onerous as they also include those of an FCA Approved Person.
Our Corporate Responsibilities Service is designed expressly for senior executives. It reflects the position such individuals have achieved by providing training and development appropriate to their individual role and responsibilities, as well as their wider duties as an effective board member and an Approved Person.
The service supports decision-makers to perform to their maximum potential by providing a solid foundation of knowledge on which to build necessary business skills including effective delegation, change management and leadership.
