Governance Metrics
- 02:28
Explores the key metrics used for measuring governance risks.
Downloads
No associated resources to download.
Glossary
ESG governance SustainabilityTranscript
Governance metrics. When we're conducting benchmarking analysis of governance risk, we use various metrics and it's important to be familiar with the most commonly used metrics. Now, the key caveat for governance risk is that some of the issues are very qualitative in nature and it can be quite difficult to come up with quantitative metrics that help us to measure these. So many investors will use quality scores for this. For example, if they're looking at the policies and procedures in place to help manage a risk, they might give it a score based on what their perception is of the quality of those policies and procedures. Now, in terms of governance risks, the key focus is usually on business ethics and corporate governance. And for ethics, a key concern is corruption. And geographical location of operations is a key driver in this. So, many investors will map the company's operations to identify exposure to high risk locations. Also, fines and litigation related to business ethics are widely tracked and some data providers provide data on the general number of controversies reported in the press. And this is sometimes used as a proxy for ethics risk. For corporate governance we typically look at three areas: Management remuneration, board structure, and disclosure transparency. Now, for management remuneration, the focus is often on the total amount of executive pay, but also on the extent to which this is linked to performance. For example, the amount of bonus versus salary. And for some investors, they're also keen to see a link between management remuneration and other ESG risks. For example, linking executive pay to reduction in carbon emissions. For board structure, the focus is often on the diversity of the board. So for example, looking at age diversity, gender diversity, or even diversity of expertise on the board. Also, the percentage of equity owned by the board is a common metric as there's some evidence that high levels of management ownership increase governance quality. Now, in terms of disclosure transparency, financial reporting quality is often used as a proxy for this. And this would look at things like accounting metrics around earnings quality, so cash conversion or the number of exceptional items when we're looking at financial reporting. Also, the absence of key disclosure items can be used as a measure of transparency risk. Now, as I mentioned before, some of the corporate governance issues can be difficult to measure with quantitative metrics and another way around this is to use binary metrics. So, that's giving a company a certain score based on the presence or the absence of a key issue.