ICAEW.com works better with JavaScript enabled.

The Cadbury Report

The report ‘Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance Committee’ (usually known as the Cadbury Report) was published in December 1992 and contained a number of recommendations to raise standards in corporate governance. On this page you can access a selection of resources on the report.

Contents
Back to top

The report

The committee was chaired by Sir Adrian Cadbury and had a remit to review those aspects of corporate governance relating to financial reporting and accountability. The final report 'The financial aspects of corporate governance' (usually known as the Cadbury Report) was published in December 1992 and contained a number of recommendations to raise standards in corporate governance.

Useful links

The Cadbury Archive 
The Cadbury Archive at Cambridge Judge Business School is a collection of material from Sir Adrian Cadbury's time as chairman of the Committee on the Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance. The archive includes agendas, minutes and research relating to the committee's activities with a search tool to locate material of interest.

When is comply or explain the right approach?
A December 2013 ICAEW report on promoting good corporate governance and the role of comply or explain as a means to that end. The Cadbury Code is widely seen as the first comply-or-explain governance code.

eBooks

The Library provides full text access to a selection of key business and reference eBooks from leading publishers. eBooks are available to logged-in ICAEW members, ACA students and other entitled users. If you are unable to access an eBook, please see our Help and support advice or contact library@icaew.com.

Exclusive Corporate governance - Cadbury
  • 01 Jan 2007
  • Sonia Mckay, Andrea Oates, Glynis Morris
  • CIMA Publishing
  • Finance Directors Handbook
Guide to the duties of modern finance directors. Chapter 6 looks at corporate governance and summarises the Cadbury Report.
Exclusive Corporate governance - the historical background
  • 03 Mar 2008
  • Alan Calder
  • Kogan Page
An introduction to governance for directors and executives. Chapter 1 looks at the historical background and gives an overview of the Cadbury Report.
Exclusive Introduction and background
  • 01 Jul 2017
  • ICSA Publishing
  • ICSA Publishing
  • The ICSA Corporate Governance Handbook
Chapter 1 looks at the development of corporate governance and specifically the history of corporate governance in the UK.
Exclusive Overview of corporate governance - The Cadbury Code
  • 01 Jan 2008
  • Alexander Davidson
  • Kogan Page
  • How the City Really Works
The key institutions, products and professions of the City of London. Chapter 25 is a overview of corporate governance and outlines the Cadbury report.
Terms of use

You are permitted to access, download, copy, or print out content from eBooks for your own research or study only, subject to the terms of use set by our suppliers and any restrictions imposed by individual publishers. Please see individual supplier pages for full terms of use.

More eBooks

Online articles

The library provides access to a range of articles in full text from leading business, finance and management journals. Access to articles is provided to logged-in ICAEW members, ACA students and other entitled users subject to suppliers' terms of use.

Exclusive The UK Corporate Governance Code Principle of 'Comply or Explain': Understanding Code Compliance as 'Subjection'.
  • 01 Jan 2020
  • John Roberts, Paul Sanderson, Davdi Seidl, Antonije Krivokapic
The focus of this paper is on UK Code compliance and the contests and confusions that have surrounded its principle of 'comply or explain'. The paper first explores three key moments in the evolution of the UK Code: the initial Cadbury committee two‐page 'Code of Best Practice' in 1992, the more prescriptive 2003 post‐Enron changes to the UK Combined Code following the Higgs review, and the retreat from such prescription in the 2010 changes to the Code.
Exclusive Applying the comply-or-explain principle
  • 01 Aug 2013
  • David Seidl, Paul Sanderson and John Roberts
The comply-or-explain principle is a central element of most codes of corporate governance. Despite its wide application very little is known about the ways in which comply-or-explain is used. This paper addresses this by analyzing compliance statements and reports of 257 UK and German listed companies.
Exclusive Creating better boards through codification: Possibilities and limitations in UK corporate governance, 1992–2010
  • 01 Apr 2013
  • Donald Nordberg | Terry McNulty
An academic article analysing the three main versions of the UK code of corporate governance and looking back at the worldwide wave of official and semi-official codes that followed the Cadbury report.
Exclusive Gender diversity in the FTSE 100: The business case claim explored
  • 01 Dec 2011
  • Mark McCann | Sally Wheeler
Academic article; tracks the corporate governance diversity story from the 1992 Cadbury Report to the 2011 Davies Report and investigates whether female board appointments enhance corporate profits.
Exclusive Board composition, corporate performance, and the Cadbury Committee recommendation
  • 01 Sep 2007
  • Jay Dahya | John McConnell
The authors investigate the changes in board membership and corporate performance for UK firms from 1989 to 1996, a period contemporary with the Cadbury report.
Exclusive An analysis of changes in board structure during corporate governance reforms
  • 01 Sep 2006
  • David Hillier | Patrick McColgan
Using data over a time period following the publication of the Cadbury Report (1992), the authors present evidence of an increase in the independence of UK boards.
Exclusive Corporate governance codes and the supply of corporate information
  • 01 Sep 2006
  • Edward Jones | Claire Marston | Lynsey Sheridan
Article on how the introduction of the Cadbury, Greenbury and Hampel reports was accompanied by a significant increase in the number of news announcements by UK listed companies.
Exclusive Corporate governance: from accountability to enterprise
  • 01 Sep 1999
  • Alison Hull | Kevin Keasey | Helen Short | Mike Wright
Discusses the development of the corporate governance debate in the UK, including the reports of the Hampel Committee
terms of use

You are permitted to access articles subject to the terms of use set by our suppliers and any restrictions imposed by individual publishers. Please see for full terms of use.

Articles and books in the ICAEW Library collection

Selected articles and books

Click on the links below to see our catalogue record and holdings for each item.

Stay in control: boards risk losing sight of committees
Governance and Compliance: the ICSA Magazine, January 2015, pages 26-27
The UK Corporate Governance Code, says the author, has evolved into a code on nomination, remuneration and audit committees, with some overarching principles applicable to the board as a whole. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) needs to start a debate on how the non-executive role should evolve, says the author: the model envisaged by the Cadbury Committee is rapidly becoming obsolete.

The Cadbury committee: a history 
Spira, L.F. (Oxford University Press, 2013)
This book explores the origins of the Committee, provides insights into the way in which it worked, and documents the reaction to the publication of the Committee's report.

Comply or explain: 20th anniversary of the UK Corporate Governance Code
(FRC, 2012)
A collection of essays published by the Financial Reporting Council to mark the 20th anniversary of the Cadbury Code, which introduced the UK's 'comply or explain' approach to best practice in the organisation of corporate boardrooms and their relations with shareholders. The collection draws on the experience of a wide range of individuals both here and overseas, reflecting the global impact of 'comply or explain' and its contribution to the UK's role as an international financial centre.

Find more articles and books

To find out how you can borrow books from the Library please see our guide to borrowing books.

You can obtain copies of articles or extracts of books and reports through our document supply service.

See also

Can't find what you're looking for?

The ICAEW Library can give you the right information from trustworthy, professional sources that aren't freely available online. Contact us for expert help with your enquiries and research.

Disclaimer

ICAEW accepts no responsibility for the content on any site to which a hypertext link from this site exists. The links are provided ‘as is’ with no warranty, express or implied, for the information provided within them. Please see the full copyright and disclaimer notice.
Information

Some of the content on this web page was provided by the Chartered Accountants’ Trust for Education and Research, a registered charity, which owns the library and operates it for ICAEW.