Venue

The Conrad Hotel, Dublin

Date

Thursday 21 May 2009

Speakers

• Frank O’Dwyer
  Chief Executive, Irish Association of Investment Managers
  
  
• Anton Savage
  Managing Director, The Communications Clinic

Chairman

• Kevin O'Donovan
  Chairman, Audit Committee Institute and Partner, KPMG

Topic

• Ireland’s Corporate Governance Profile and Managing Reputational Risk

The Audit Committee Institute (ACI) Breakfast Seminars provide for the exchange of views and insights on topics of interest to audit committee members. The latest ACI breakfast seminar took place in the Conrad Hotel, Dublin on 21 May 2009, and attracted an audience of over 150 attendees.

Against a backdrop of recent turmoil in global capital markets, Frank O’Dwyer, Chief Executive, Irish Association of Investment Managers, presented an institutional perspective on corporate governance in Ireland. Frank spoke on a range of topics, including the need for a reassessment of the role of the annual report, executive remuneration and the continued evolution of the responsibilities of the audit committee. Frank noted that Irish companies are increasingly looking to international markets to raise finance, and in such circumstances the annual report is a key document in helping to profile a company with these investors who will not share the local knowledge of Irish Investment managers.

Anton Savage, Managing Director, The Communications Clinic, outlined key areas in managing reputational risk from the perspective of media relations. Our May breakfast attendees heard about the changing relationships between media and Irish directors and what directors can do should a media crisis arise. According to Anton, the media previously built relationships with key management in order to merit access when a story developed. This dynamic has now changed as the media has become more focussed on obtaining a story at any cost, and potentially sacrificing future relationships with management to achieve this. Anton linked this concept to the wider implications of a changing media landscape in terms of how news stories develop and are reported, and the limited window of time that a company has to prevent incorrect assertions from becoming “fact”.