Alison Statham
Good governance is integral to the way our firm operates and its reputation. In the past year, we've seen our governance at work in many different ways, primarily in how we managed the election of a new alliance senior partner and head of audit.
PwC UK, as with each member within the PwC network, is subject to a global code of conduct that includes a commitment to fostering a culture of excellence and quality in a large global network, there will always be challenges to be addressed each year, and FY24 was no different.
There were publicised failures in governance and accountability in PwC Australia, leading to the publication of the Ziggy report, a watershed moment for our network.
As the Management Board in the UK we use this report to consider and reflect what happened in Australia and discuss our reflections at length with our governance bodies, the Supervisory Board and the Public Interest Body.
I'm delighted to be joined by Chris Burns, the chair of our Supervisory Board, and Phillip Rycroft, the chair of our Public Interest Body, to talk about the governance of our firm.
Phillip, can I ask you, what are your reflections on that discussion?
Philip Rycroft
Well, it was really important from the public interest body perspective that we were engaged in those discussions to see how the UK firm was responding to the Ziggy report.
But we did so from the knowledge that the base of the governance of the UK firm is in a good place. This is a well governed business.
It doesn't mean, however, that there aren't improvements that can be made. And we have made some changes, for example ensuring that there's an independent non-executive on the audit committee, the supervisory board.
But looking forward, there'll be continued focus from the public interest body on the culture and the ethics of the business in the UK, because that's ultimately what underpins good governance.
Chris Burns
Just building on that, Philip, from a supervisory board perspective, I think it's really important that we think about how we navigate and uphold governance in our business through our Management Board, through our Public Interest Body, the Supervisory Board on our interactions with Alison in a General Counsel role, but also with our regulator as well the FRC.
I think from my perspective, Alison, you referenced the Alliance Senior Partner election earlier, and when I'm thinking about the Ziggy recommendations It was critical to us when we were designing that process and indeed executing it on behalf of our partners and our other stakeholders, that we really thought about the culture of our business and what we want our business to be for the long term, and the success factors, the critical success factors around that.
And that was something that we definitely, assessed and definitely played through in relation to how we satisfied ourselves with the culture, supporting the governance and where we want our business to be over that long term.
Important for us as a firm in the UK, but also important because of our standing in the wider global network.
Alison Statham
I think what's interesting with PwC Australia, while the culture clearly failed,the strong governance at the network level enabled us to manage that situation and put the firm back on the road to recovery.
When I look at UK governance, I think we are in a mature place, but I also think there's no room for complacency. And we need to think about that and as a Management Board, we thought about the strength of our structure, but also the values we wanted to reaffirm and coalesce around.
Philip Rycroft
This is clearly an important moment for the firm, the transition to a new Alliance Senior Partner and ensuring stability of governance, of culture through that is really in the public interest. We know that it's the Public Interest Body, but it's also concerned stakeholders, Chris, you referenced earlier on.
From the Public Interest Body perspective, also, thinking about how the UK firm uses its strong governance position and its influence to work with the network to ensure that standards across the network are improved to the optimum. That's going to be really important.
Looking forward, we live in an uncertain world and it's not just regulators in the UK, but across the globe, that are looking at how firms are governed. And so governance is going to be of a focus for the future come what may.
Alison Statham
I think that's right, Philip.
Also just making sure that you have that governance aligned to your culture.
And of course, we've had a lot of work in the course of this year through our ethics program, through emphasising speak up and psychological safety to do that, to make sure we are nurturing that culture.
We're also committed to a full governance review, and we will discuss that, but at the right point. Stability and allowing leadership to bed down is really important at this point in time.
I think it's also important to say that, we recognise the importance of governance to our broad ecosystem as well. And so we're really supportive of wider reform to corporate governance reporting and, and the audit system. and us playing our role in that.
And as for our own governance, that will keep evolving and we'll continue to keep it under review. using that Ziggy report as a continuing guide.
Thank you.
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