Research Services - Overcoming the barriers to senior representation and leadership by black and minority ethnic people in FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies

***THIS OPPORTUNITY IS CLOSED. THIS IS A CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE***

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) regulates auditors, accountants and actuaries and sets the UK's Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes. We seek to promote transparency and integrity in business; our work is aimed at investors and others who rely on company accounts, audit and high-quality risk management. As the Competent Authority for audit in the UK, the FRC sets auditing and ethical standards and monitors and enforces audit quality.

The FRC is encouraging listed companies to increase the level of diversity at senior leadership levels. The market environment in which FTSE companies operate is increasingly diverse as a result of globalisation, increased participation in the workforce, and changing demographics. Companies need to consider how diversity and inclusion are relevant to the specific circumstances of their business, the markets they operate in, the workforce upon which they rely and the customers and communities they serve.

In addition to its own monitoring of corporate governance and reporting, the FRC is interested in gathering evidence specifically on the challenges and opportunities that black and minority ethnic individuals may experience in progressing to the Boards of FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies, Executive Committee roles (the pipeline to Board positions), and the direct reports of members of the Executive Committee (also part of the pipeline).

One of the principles of good governance is that Boards should be diverse in their composition. In the context of corporate governance, diversity is a broad concept, encompassing diversity of skills, experience, social background, personal strengths and mindset, as well as those protected characteristics included in the Equality Act 2010.

This research will enable the FRC to better understand the following, with respect to companies in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 (with some separate analysis for each group):

1. What are the barriers to black and minority ethnic people progressing to senior leadership levels? If so, are there consistent themes to those barriers?

2. Is there established best practice for increasing the ethnic diversity of FTSE boards? How effective is that best practice in terms of outcomes and black and minority ethnic people's real experiences in FTSE companies?

3. Does that best practice extend to ensuring a sustainable pipeline of ethnically diverse talent with the skills and knowledge, and presence in those "feeder roles", acknowledged as being desirable to successfully attain Executive and Board positions?

4. Can a set of good practices/procedures be defined, or refined, that supports the progress of black and minority ethnic people to senior leadership levels, and which might be applicable to the wider business community?