UK: FRC guidance - improving the quality of 'comply or explain' reporting

The Financial Reporting Council has today published guidance designed to help companies improve the quality of their 'comply or explain' reporting in respect of the UK Corporate Governance Code: see here (pdf). In the guidance document, it is noted:

One of the most concerning findings from our review [here, pdf]was that many companies were not transparent about their compliance with the Code. Several companies in our sample, including some that claimed full compliance with the Code, on further investigation had not acknowledged departure from one or more Provisions of the Code .... We were disappointed with the quality of the explanations provided by companies for non-compliance with the Provisions of the Code and struggled to find robust explanations. Our sample identified 74 cases of non-compliance with the Code, but we found only four explanations that we considered high quality and offered an insight into the companies’ approach to good governance. The majority of explanations were inadequate, and in one instance, not given at all".