The Smith Report was a report on
corporate governance
Corporate governance is defined, described or delineated in diverse ways, depending on the writer's purpose. Writers focused on a disciplinary interest or context (such as accounting, finance, law, or management) often adopt narrow definitions th ...
submitted to the UK government in 2003. It was concerned with the independence of auditors in the wake of the collapse of
Arthur Andersen
Arthur Andersen was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corporat ...
and the
Enron scandal in the US in 2002. Its recommendations now form part of the
Combined Code
The UK Corporate Governance code, formerly known as the Combined Code (from here on referred to as "the Code") is a part of UK company law with a set of principles of good corporate governance aimed at companies listed on the London Stock Exchang ...
on corporate governance, applicable through the
Listing Rules
The Listing Rules (LR) are a set of regulations applicable to any company listed on a United Kingdom stock exchange, subject to the oversight of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The Listing Rules set out mandatory standards for any company wi ...
for the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
.
It was substantially influenced by the views taken by the EU Commission.
[Official Journal, 19.07.2002, ''Commission Recommendations, Statutory Auditors' Independence in the EU: A Set of Fundamental Principles''. 200]
OJ L 191/22
/ref> One important point was that an auditor himself should look at whether a company's corporate governance structure provides safeguards to preserve his own independence.
See also
* Combined Code
The UK Corporate Governance code, formerly known as the Combined Code (from here on referred to as "the Code") is a part of UK company law with a set of principles of good corporate governance aimed at companies listed on the London Stock Exchang ...
* Cadbury Report
The Cadbury Report, titled ''Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance'', is a report issued by "The Committee on the Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance" chaired by Sir Adrian Cadbury, chairman of Cadbury, that sets out recommendations on ...
(1992)
* Greenbury Report
The Greenbury Report released in 1995 was the product of a committee established under the auspices of the United Kingdom Confederation of British Industry. The committee was formed at the behest of the President of the Board of Trade, Michael Hese ...
(1995)
* Hampel Report
The Hampel Report was designed to be a revision of the corporate governance system in the UK. The remit of the committee was to review the Code laid down by the Cadbury Report (now found in the Combined Code). It asked whether the code's original p ...
(1998)
* Turnbull Report
''Internal Control: Guidance for Directors on the Combined Code'' (1999) also known as the "Turnbull Report" was a report drawn up with the London Stock Exchange for listed companies. The committee which wrote the report was chaired by Nigel Turnb ...
* Higgs Report
''Review of the role and effectiveness of non-executive directors'' (or the "Higgs review") was a report chaired by Derek Higgs on corporate governance commissioned by the UK government, published on 20 January 2003. It reviewed the role and effect ...
(2003)
References
External links
Smith Report (in full)General page
by the Financial Reporting Council
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is an independent regulator in the UK and Ireland based in London Wall in the City of London, responsible for regulating auditors, accountants and actuaries, and setting the UK's Corporate Governance and ...
Corporate governance in the United Kingdom
2003 in the United Kingdom
Reports of the United Kingdom government
Reports on finance and business
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