Strategic governance and sustainability: Essentials for maximizing corporate value

By: Dr. Carlos P. Gatmaitan, FICD

Fellow

Institute of Corporate Directors

Welcome to this special  inaugural issue! This column covers good governance and sustainability initiatives in the Philippines. Rest assured, my dear friends, this shall not be an academic exposition but rather a true to life discussion on current situations surrounding a topic that has transcended into the DNA of the country’s top corporations and key stakeholders representing government, capital markets and civil society. The series shall ultimately proclaim that sound strategic governance and sustainability practices are critical factors for long-term growth for organizations.

Consider this endeavor as a piece of the global phenomenon upon the turn of the century, catapulted by the inevitable Asian Crisis of 1997 and the infamous Enron corporate scandal — the primary case for corporate governance abuses. To answer the call, previous Secretary of Finance, Dr. Jesus P. Estanislao founded the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) and the Institute for Solidarity (ISA), which recently celebrated their 25th year anniversary.

The ICD, in particular, has been at the forefront of advocating improved corporate governance practices in the Philippines, providing training, research and resources for directors and executives. Thankfully, incoming ICD chairperson Benedicta-Du Baladad and President Senen Matoto shall continue to advocate for governance reforms that promote good governance practices towards economic prosperity and social responsibility. Together with the ISA, which focuses on public governance and working toward creating a more inclusive and transparent government, these organizations have collaborated on the Dream Philippines 2046 project, a roadmap for the country’s governance and sustainability initiatives.

In the global context, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) maintains its universal role and serves as a critical framework for addressing good governance and sustainability priorities. The 17 SDGs continue to be a backbone for sustainability reports as required for publicly-listed corporations and with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Emil Aquino and SEC Commissioner Javey Francisco actively involved in the regulatory perspective on good governance, the Philippines has done its share in aligning governance regulations with the SDGs as well as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and a handful of stakeholders in the global sustainability world, fondly called the alphabet soup of acronyms — all ensuring that corporate growth and sustainability, social welfare and corporate growth. They are walking the talk and have been central in the mix of things.

Thankfully, the Philippine economy continues to grow (really) and we have finally met the United Nation’s upper-middle gross national income level of $4,086 after posting a record high of $4,230 last 3Q2024. We will continue to grow and Dream Philippines 2046 (Estanislao) will be a reality, hopefully sooner rather than later. For as long as the majority of Filipinos remain morally upright and we maintain our self-respect as a people capable of nationwide growth and greater service to our fellowmen, the Philippines shall have a climate conducive to economic stability and maintain its faith towards political maturity. Yes, we need faith and action to make this work… and it will!

Kudos to those involved in merging good governance practices in this never-ending journey towards various stakeholders aside from the SEC and Philippine Stock Exchange. These include the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Insurance Commission, Governance Commission for GOCCs, Philippine Council for NGO Certification, among others. Various prominent advocates of governance reform from the private sector have played critical roles in shaping the discourse on corporate and public governance in the Philippines and shall be discussed further in this weekly series.

Wonderful that the country’s top audit and advisory firms are deeply entrenched in the bandwagon as well. I recall Accenture’s ex-CEO Lito Tayag in the 1980s, a trailblazer in the governance of the Information Technology space when digitalization was at its infancy stage in the strategy decision-making arena back then. Well, all of the country’s top audit firms now have distinct advisory services and are the fastest-growing departments. From KPMG R.G. Manabat, PwC Isla Lipana, P&A Grant Thornton to SGV, they are all in. As a senior advisor in Reyes Tacandong & Co., I envision RT&Co as spearheading the country’s premiere Strategic Governance and Sustainability advisory group. All in the spirit of good corporate governance! Until next week…

(Dr. Carlos Jose P. Gatmaitan is an Independent Director, Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors, Senior Advisor of Reyes Tacandong & Co., and Faculty at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business. Please share your thoughts and comments at corgov.associates@gmail.com)

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Disclaimer:

On  December 15, 2024, “Strategic governance and sustainability: Essentials for maximizing corporate value” was published. It was authored by Dr. Carlos P. Gatmaitan, a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

You can read the original article through this link

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