U.K. firms more likely to put risk specialist in charge of corporate governance

In a comparative study of companies in the U.K., U.S., Germany, France and the Netherlands, British firms were more likely to have a specific risk specialist to handle corporate governance functions, while U.S. firms largely put primary responsibility for this function with the CFO.The study by CODA Financials Inc. finds 38% of U.K. companies have a specific risk director in charge of corporate governance, while 81% of U.S. companies leave this function to the CFO.One thing all companies share in pushing the level of responsibility for corporate governance up the corporate ladder. “In the post-Parmalat world of enterprise governance, it is generally accepted that CFOs and CEOs are taking responsibility for governance issues,” says Steve Pugh, CEO of CODA. Over half of the firms surveyed have the CEO or CFO in control of corporate governance. Pugh feels the high number of U.K. companies using a risk specialist is related to the long history of insurance in that country.The study also finds most companies have made progress in putting in place systems to assess and identify risks. One area of weakness is in identifying and assessing political, economic, social and financial risks outside the company’s control.