Thought Leadership

ValueAlpha has been the source of some of the leading thinking on governance and the issues which affect boards, in the UK and internationally, over the past ten years

During the period, Seamus has been responsible for the publication of significant and influential reports, including the first behavioural analysis of the financial crisis (’Boardroom Behaviours’), and the high-profile Guidance on Board Effectiveness, where he led the Steering Group, chaired by Sir John Egan, which culminated in the FRC report.

Boardroom Behaviours

Finacial Reporting

In late 2013, Seamus contributed to a report setting out a draft Code of Practice for the board evaluation sector. The initiative has been adopted by ICSA, which is preparing the document for public consultation, with the aim of formalising the guidance. He followed up this work by contributing to a report entitled ‘The Effective Board’, with a Foreword written by Sir Richard Olver.

Code of Practice

The Effective Board

Seamus devised the corporate confidence index (‘insight into what UK boards are thinking’), generated by seeking the views of the boardrooms of the FTSE350. The Financial Times sponsored the initiative, and the FT-ICSA Boardroom Bellwether has now reached its fifth anniversary. In another piece of work, writing for Governance magazine, Seamus set out the core concepts involved in the relationship between governance and reputation, and what boards need to know in terms of the impact of the crystallisation of reputational risk on shareholder value.

Boardroom Bellweather

Govenance

Seamus has researched and overseen projects looking at the operation of boards in other sectors, (‘Minding the gap’ in the NHS), and the way key stakeholders interact with boards (‘Enhancing Stewardship Dialogue’, analysing the company/investor relationship).

Minding the gap

Enhancing Stewardship