The King IV Report on Corporate GovernanceTM (King IV) was launched on 1 November 2016 by the King Committee and the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA), which owns the intellectual rights to the King Reports and the governance codes they contain. The King Reports, of which this is the fourth iteration, contain the philosophy, principles and leading practices for corporate governance in South Africa.
 
“The overarching objective of King IV is to make corporate governance more accessible and relevant to a wider range of organisations, and to be the catalyst for a shift from a compliance-based mindset to one that sees corporate governance as a lever for value creation ,” says Prof Mervyn King, chair of the King Committee on Corporate Governance in South Africa.
 
To make the Report more accessible, Ansie Ramalho, King IV Report Project Lead for the IoDSA, and the task team appointed by the King Committee, have introduced a number of innovations. They have broadened the language of the Report, ensuring that the vocabulary is no longer listed company and business-specific, and have provided supplements to make it easier to adapt the Code to different industry sectors, including government and non-profits, and various organisation types. King IV also provides guidance on how to apply its practices proportionally, in line with an individual organisation’s size and resources, and the extent and complexity of its activities.
 
In addition, King III’s 75 principles have been reduced to a mere 16 in King IV, with an additional 17th principle which is applicable to institutional investors such as retirement funds and insurance companies.
 
At a deeper level, King IV has taken the decisive step of focusing on outcomes as a way of driving acceptance of corporate governance as integral to value creation by organisations characterised by an ethical culture, good performance, effective control and legitimacy.
 
Linking governance to outcomes should result in organisations practising quality governance. In this spirit, King IV emphasises not what practices have been implemented but rather what their impact has been on achieving the 16 principles. King IV has moved the regimen of “apply or explain” to “apply and explain”.
 
“Apply and explain” introduces a qualitative approach to the implementation of King IV’s recommendations. Governing bodies now have greater flexibility in how they implement the recommended practices to achieve the goals articulated in the principles, but they have to be transparent about how they did so. The intent is for the reader of the explanation to be able to make an informed decision about whether the organisation has or has not achieved the principles and realised the four outcomes of ethical culture, performance in a sustainable manner, effective controls and legitimacy.
 
Other important issues covered by King IV include the wage gap, shareholders   voting on remuneration policies and their implementation so as to trigger engagement with the company and the composition of the governing body.
 
“King IV is the product of wide consultation, and belongs to all South Africans – organisations and individuals – to whom good governance matters,” says Ramalho. “The wish of the King Committee and the IoDSA is that King IV be welcomed as making it easier to understand what the purpose of corporate governance is, and to apply it to achieve the creation of value. King IV aims to make corporate governance understandable beyond the circle of consultants, technicians and academics.
 
Prof King said it would be the committee’s greatest reward if King IV is adopted by all organisations across all sectors with a consequent consistent practice of quality governance.
 
King IV will be available via app download from App Store or Galaxy App Store, or via a digital read-only copy from www.iodsa.co.za. Printed copies will be available for purchase through Lexis Nexis.

ENDS
 
MEDIA CONTACT: Cathlen Fourie, 082 222 9198, [email protected], www.atthatpoint.co.za
 
For more information on the IoDSA please visit:
Website:  www.iodsa.co.za
Twitter:  @The_IoDSA
LinkedIn: The Institute of Directors in Southern Africa group  ​​

The long-awaited update of the King Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa, King IV™, will be launched at a high-level conference at the Sandton Convention Centre on 1 November 2016. Interest in the conference is high: when online registrations opened on 6 July, the first registration was made after just three minutes. By the end of the day, 83 people had already registered along with additional confirmations from an international delegation representing 13 countries across the globe.

“King IV introduces some important updates to the landmark King III’s report. In addition, it breaks new ground by differentiating clearly between principles and practices, and linking practices to outcomes—all with a view to making implementation easier,” says Angela Cherrington, CEO of the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA). “Governance is ever evolving, and King IV provides closer, more practical guidance on how to integrate its principles into the way organisations do business.”

The conference will be addressed by a number of prominent South African figures, including Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng; Lynne Brown, the Minister of Public Enterprises; Reuel Khoza, president of the IoDSA; David Lewis, Executive Director of Corruption Watch; Thembekile Kimi Makwetu, the Auditor General; Mervyn King, the Chairman of the King Committee; and Ansie Ramalho, the King IV™ Project Lead.
An international panel of speakers includes Simon Arcus, CE of the IoD in New Zealand; Heloisa Bedicks, MD of the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance; Stan Magidson, CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission, Simon Walker, Director General of the IoD in the United Kingdom and Peter Dehnen, CEO of the German Directors Association.

Cherrington says that the IoDSA has also developed a mobile app for the conference. The app will mean that delegates can create a personalised schedule and import it into their calendars, access speaker profiles, and message speakers and other delegates.

“The app will reduce the paper generated by the conference while enhancing delegates’ experience,” Cherrington says. “Other green initiatives include sourcing produce locally, using beaded rather than real flower decorations, intensive recycling and providing carbon credits for purchase by delegates.”

Online registration is available on http://bit.ly/29R5Vlq until 25 October.

ENDS
 
MEDIA CONTACT: Cathlen Fourie, 082 222 9198, [email protected], www.atthatpoint.co.za
 
For more information on the IoDSA please visit:
Website:  www.iodsa.co.za
Twitter:  @The_IoDSA
LinkedIn: The Institute of Directors in Southern Africa group  ​