Title: Corporate governance: Tesco ranked lowest of FTSE 100 firms | Corporate governance | The Guardian
Headings: Corporate governance: Tesco ranked lowest of FTSE 100 firms
Corporate governance: Tesco ranked lowest of FTSE 100 firms
Sean Farrell

Content: Rolls-Royce, once one of Britain’s most respected companies, was also rated a lowly 93rd after a series of profit warnings and allegations of illegal payments that are under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Corporate governance – how companies and boards operate and deal with shareholders, workers and customers – has shot up the political agenda amid disquiet about inequality and remote business elites. Big shareholders, under pressure to take a stand, rebelled over pay at AGMs this year including a majority vote against the £14m deal for BP’s chief executive Bob Dudley. Theresa May has promised to rein back executive pay and has threatened to place workers on boards to make companies act in the interests of society and the economy. City institutions and business people have admitted the gap between those at the top and the rest of the populace contributed to the vote for Brexit. Oliver Parry, head of corporate governance policy at the IoD, said: “ Companies need to own this now. You have got to get to grips with your corporate governance because if you don’t then policymakers will regulate you more. “We are saying to companies: ‘ You have still got an opportunity to sort it out for yourselves.’”