In his best-selling book, An Inconvenient Truth, former Vice President Al Gore argues against the climate crisis and argues that it is imperative that we solve it.
Our climate crisis may, at times, appear to be happening slowly, but it is happening very quickly and has become a true planetary emergency. The Chinese expression for crisis consists of two characters. The first is a symbol of danger; the second is a symbol of opportunity.
Cadbury committee | 1992, London Stock Exchange, en • nl
This report is a milestone in corporate governance. It is 1992. The Cadbury Report about “Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance” has been published. This groundbreaking report – chaired by Sir Adrian Cadbury – led to improvements in governance standards. It was a reaction to the Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal in 1991.
• Dit rapport is een mijlpaal in het corporate besturing. Het is 1992. Het Cadbury Report over “Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance” wordt gepubliceerd. Baanbrekend – voorgezeten door Sir Adrian Cadbury – en het leidde tot verbeteringen in de normen voor deugdelijk bestuur. Het was een reactie op het schandaal in 1991 bij de Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
The report made specific recommendations on good corporate governance, which it described as ”best practice” or ”code of conduct.”It was highly influential in developing organisational codes regarding external shareholders’ accountability. It is the start of a new line of thinking about good governance, also in the public context. • Het rapport deed specifieke aanbevelingen voor goed ondernemingsbestuur, die het omschreef als “best practice” of “gedragscode”. Het rapport was zeer invloedrijk bij het ontwikkelen van organisatiecodes met betrekking tot de verantwoordingsplicht van externe aandeelhouders. Het is het begin van een nieuwe manier van denken over goed bestuur, ook in de publieke context.
This interview with Sir Adrian Cadbury gives the precise focus and the intention to look further into the essence of corporate governance. • Dit interview met Sir Adrian Cadbury geeft de precieze focus en de intentie om verder te kijken naar de essentie van corporate governance.
The report stipulated “the continuing concern about standards of financial reporting and accountability, … which has kept corporate governance in the public eye.” Some findings and recommendations (a personal selection) tell the story of the search for codes, checks and balances [quote]:
By adhering to the Code, listed companies will strengthen their control over their businesses and public accountability. In so doing, they will be striking the right balance between meeting the standards of corporate governance now expected of them and retaining the essential spirit of enterprise.
Every public company should be headed by an effective board that can lead and control the business.
However, the framework in which auditors operate is not well designed in certain respects to provide the objectivity that shareholders and the public expect of auditors in carrying out their function.
The new system has only recently been established, and its full impact has yet to be felt. In the following paragraphs, we endorse the steps being taken and recommend additional action to strengthen public confidence in the audit approach.
We believe that there should be an extension of the audit, which will add to users of accounts and bring it closer into line with public expectations.
So far as reporting fraud is concerned, the present legal position is that confidentiality is an implied term of an auditor’s contract, and there is a public interest in maintaining confidential client relationships. Normally, therefore, it is the auditor’s duty to report fraud to senior management. However, there is also a public interest in fraud being dealt with expeditiously and this may entail disclosing matters to a proper authority. [unquote]
• Het rapport vermeldde “de voortdurende bezorgdheid over normen voor financiële verslaggeving en verantwoording, … die corporate governance in de publieke belangstelling heeft gehouden.” Enkele bevindingen en aanbevelingen (een persoonlijke selectie) vertellen het verhaal van de zoektocht naar codes, checks and balances [citaat]:
Door de Code na te leven zullen beursgenoteerde ondernemingen hun controle over hun bedrijf en hun publieke verantwoording versterken. Op die manier vinden ze het juiste evenwicht tussen het voldoen aan de normen van corporate governance die nu van hen worden verwacht en het behouden van de essentiële ondernemingsgeest.
Elke beursgenoteerde onderneming moet worden geleid door een effectieve raad van bestuur die de onderneming kan leiden en controleren.
Het kader waarbinnen auditors werken is in bepaalde opzichten echter niet goed ontworpen om de objectiviteit te bieden die aandeelhouders en het publiek verwachten van auditors bij het uitvoeren van hun functie.
Het nieuwe systeem is pas onlangs ingevoerd en de volledige impact ervan moet nog merkbaar worden. In de volgende paragrafen onderschrijven we de stappen die worden genomen en bevelen we aanvullende maatregelen aan om het vertrouwen van het publiek in de controleaanpak te versterken.
Wij zijn van mening dat de controle moet worden uitgebreid, wat de gebruikers van de rekeningen ten goede zal komen en de controle meer in overeenstemming zal brengen met de verwachtingen van het publiek.
Wat het melden van fraude betreft, is de huidige rechtspositie dat vertrouwelijkheid een impliciete voorwaarde is van het contract van een auditor en dat er een algemeen belang is bij het onderhouden van vertrouwelijke relaties met cliënten. Normaal gesproken is het daarom de plicht van de auditor om fraude te melden aan het senior management. Het is echter ook in het algemeen belang dat fraude snel wordt aangepakt en dit kan betekenen dat zaken moeten worden gemeld aan een bevoegde autoriteit. [unquote]
In early 2021, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency published the first Integrated Circular Economy Report (ICER 2021). The report outlines the progress of the transition to a circular economy in the Netherlands. I have summarised this comprehensive, highly informative report, with a focus on the major risks articulated by the authors.
The Dutch government aims to have achieved a fully circular economy by 2050. Monitoring the progress of this transition is essential. The ICER 2021 report is a significant milestone in this process. It highlights the interventions undertaken by the Dutch government to initiate and accelerate the transition to a circular economy, as well as the actions taken by civil society organisations.
The longer the Risk-Monger gets in the tooth, the more global mass panic events he has witnessed. Every crisis is a learning opportunity and as I had written in mid February, 2020. COVID-19, the Wuhan-originated coronavirus, has created a rich pedagogic environment.
When a train crashes, authorities are on the scene to determine the cause. The COVID-19 coronavirus is fast becoming a global train wreck and unless we quickly assess the mistakes leading up to this tragedy, more trains will pile into the station.
David Zaruk
Lessons are, unsurprisingly, being learnt the hard way with more mistakes sending the public health situation deeper into disaster. Worse, as our communications methods move from an expert-based model to a bottom-up citizen-based community model, our friends on social media become our main source of information.
BNG Bank: “Begin 2021 heeft het Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving de eerste Integrale Circulaire Economie Rapportage (ICER 2021) gepubliceerd. Het rapport schetst de voortgang van de transitie naar een circulaire economie in Nederland. Erevoorzitter van PRIMO Europe – Jack Kruf – heeft deze omvangrijke maar zeer informatieve rapportage samengevat op majeure risico’s, zoals zij door de auteurs zijn verwoord.”
De Nederlandse regering wil in 2050 een volledig circulaire economie hebben bereikt. Monitoring van de voortgang van deze transitie is gewenst. Deze rapportage is een belangrijke mijlpaal in dit proces. Welke interventies heeft de overheid in Nederland gedaan om de transitie naar een circulaire economie op gang te brengen en te versnellen? Wat zijn de acties van maatschappelijke partijen?
Presentation by Jack Kruf with co-presentation by Leen Paape | March 2021
Jack Kruf
What have we learned from 2020? A reflection as a farewell lecture. Farewell. I felt a bit of resistance whilst shaving this morning. I’m not really one for goodbyes. But anyway, here I am.
Jack Kruf
This will be a plea to give the field of public risk management a boost. But answering the question? That’s not so simple. Geert Mak said it at the launch of his book Great Expectations: “Interpreting history isn’t easy when you’re still in the thick of it.”
With many friends and colleagues watching on TV, and with my family here at home. It’s lovely to have you all here. I’ll try to shed some light on things. Together with Professor Leen Paape. An honour. It will be a three-part series, taking turns. Three questions are central, followed by a brief conclusion:
What is the issue at the start of 2021?
What is the intervention?
What is the associated governance?
LeenPaape
Professor at Nyenrode following a career that alternated between the public and private sectors. Started at the Military Academy in Breda and, after the Ministry of Defence, briefly worked at KPMG, then KLM, PwC and finally Nyenrode. I have served on an Audit and Risk Committee for the Municipality of Rotterdam and the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, and I now oversee an insurer, a pension fund and a large school organisation.
Leen Paape
My driving forces are accountancy, risk management and corporate governance issues. I have seen quite a few things go wrong and would like to help prevent that from happening.
Flooding, school fires, unemployment, urban development and IT safety are some of the large and complicated risk issues for public organisations. These issues are essential to any public CEO who is faced with risks that not only involve the organisation itself but often the whole community. Still, what is the best way to address these significant risks? Should public risk management aim to minimise risks at all times? Or will this approach keep the public organisations from innovating? Although tight budgets in the public sector often set a limit for a proactive approach, the fact that risks have many facets and also positive aspects cannot be ignored.
Allan Vendelbo, President UDITE
These views were repeatedly brought up and recognised by practitioners and experts at the PRIMO conference in Copenhagen on 25 November 2005. Although the conference offered no straight answers to the questions, their importance was clear to everybody.
150 participants from 10 European countries and the US joined the first international PRIMO conference. Some of PRIMO Denmark’s private partners presented their expertise in risk management at pitches in the breaks between the conference talks. Pull-ups flashed colourful logos of insurance, HR, IT and finance companies.
PRIMO Res Publica 