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Holidays enjoyed and it’s back to work and school for young and old alike. Some people will (and many more should) be wishing that they had a well-worked plan for building up enough assets to feel confident that one September they will be relaxing at home - living off their pension benefits.
But at the moment the news on pensions is often grim and workers seem to be victims of change rather than managing it.
There is no one single big answer to the big question of “How am I to manage to save for my retirement?” However, there is a way forward - if we can get the right answers to the many individual questions facing pension trustees, employers and employees.
Often we get asked questions, and like the quiz show “Who wants to be a millionaire” we believe it’s best to ask the audience. We’ve created a Linked In group, so that we can work together to share knowledge, practical tips and experience between our readers. To get the group started we are putting forward the following questions.
- How can you save costs running your pension scheme?
- Who would you recommend we use to perform a covenant review?
- What are the benefits of using an independent trustee?
If you are not yet a member of our Linked In group, please click the link and you can request to join the group. Sally Tasker will approve your request and then you start contributing to our discussions, and help raise the questions we need answers to. Join Ash Shaw’s Linked In group. We look forward to hearing from you.
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published a UK Stewardship Code (Code) because it wants better governance disclosure by pension fund managers and other institutional investors and is encouraging AAF 01/06 reporting to demonstrate this.
The FRC is the UK’s independent regulator; responsible for promoting high quality corporate governance and reporting to foster investment, setting standards for corporate reporting and actuarial practice and overseeing accounting and auditing regulations in the UK, and helping shape EU and global approaches to corporate reporting and governance.
The aims of the Code are to enhance the quality of engagement between institutional investors and companies, to help improve long-term returns to shareholders and ensure the efficient exercise of governance responsibilities by setting out good practice on engagement with investee companies.
The FRC’s UK Stewardship Code was issued on 2 July 2010 after consultation with the NAPF and other stakeholders. It replaces the code previously published by the Institutional Shareholders’ Committee. It is seen as an important implementation of one of the recommendations made by Sir David Walker following his review to improve corporate governance in financial services. The FRC will retain on its website a list of those investors that have published a statement on their compliance or otherwise with the Code.
The Code states 7 Principles to follow:
Principle 1: Institutional investors should publically disclose their policy on how they will discharge their stewardship responsibilities.
Principle 2: Institutional investors should have a robust policy on managing conflicts of interest in relation to stewardship and this policy should be publically disclosed.
Principle 3: Institutional investors should monitor their investee companies.
Principle 4: Institutional investors should establish clear guidelines on when and how they will escalate their activities as a method of protecting and enhancing shareholder value.
Principle 5: Institutional investors should be willing to act collectively with other investors where appropriate.
Principle 6: Institutional investors should have a clear policy on voting and disclosure of voting activity.
Principle 7: Institutional investors should report periodically on their stewardship and voting activities.
The FRC also states in the guidance for Principle 7 that consideration should be given to obtaining an independent audit opinion on their engagement and voting processes having regards to AAF 01/06 reporting and that the existence of such assurance certification should be publically disclosed.
In response to this the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants England & Wales) is releasing details of how an AAF 01/06 report can be performed which will be reported in October’s issue of our newsletter.
If you want to know more to take action now, please contact one of your Ash Shaw team or email Sally Tasker.
In our newsletter Spring 2009 we welcomed Carl Jebbitt as our latest trainee auditor to the Ash Shaw team.
We also wrote that in between audits, Carl had a great interest for tennis. It’s great to announce that Carl has continued his passion for both and has just achieved (through his ACCA summer exam success) the title: ‘Part Qualified Accountant with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants’.
To help us help you more swiftly, please send us a brief description of your situation (or a copy of last year's signed accounts if you are looking for new auditors) to Sally Tasker and let us know when would be a convenient time to call you.
If someone else has sent you this web link, why not make sure you get your own copy in future? Sign up to Ash Shaw's free monthly email newsletters and receive the latest information, news, ideas and advice. Focused on small- and medium sized pension schemes, these mailings tell exactly what you need to know, without wasting your valuable time. Sign up now. |
