ACCA welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Financial Reporting Council’s Stewardship Code Consultation. ACCA recognises that, depending on the signatory and their role in the wider investment chain, the term ‘stewardship’ can be interpreted in many ways. ACCA supports the creation of tailored guidance that helps signatories to disclose and explain their investment goals effectively.
While a flexible, proportionate reporting framework is key to inspiring better practice and meaningful engagement, ACCA would also emphasise the rising expectations of different investors to ask company boards about risk oversight and continuous monitoring of it given today's polycrisis norm. This is in line with our previous comments on the revised UK Corporate Governance Code as well as the G20 Principles of Corporate Governance revisions released in Sept 2023. We support enhanced transparency on the outcomes of different stewardship relationships, rather than the events themselves. It also is crucial to ensure that both cultural and conduct risks are included given today’s rapid digital transformations.
We challenge whether the revised definition of ‘stewardship’ could be interpreted as a scaling back of intent on sustainability. With climate and environmental disclosures maturing globally, and mobilising green finance a key part of the Government’s growth strategy , we would question what the removal of the term ‘environment’ signals to markets.
Please download the consultation response document found on this page, to read our response in full.
