Our Corporate Governance Expert Group contributed to our response to the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) Benchmark Policy Consultation 2016. We commented that, in general, we understand the objectives which the ISS is seeking to pursue, subject to some considerations on director overboarding and auditors' fees for smaller companies.
Regarding director overboarding, we commented that it would be helpful for ISS to take a flexible approach and allow companies to explain why certain directors may hold more than the stated maximum number of directorships. In terms of auditors' fees for smaller companies, we noted that it is important to recognise that an anomalous one-off transaction might require significant non-audit services across two years.
