We have a strong belief that good governance and transparency contribute to the trust in, and ultimately the success of, our firm. We are resolute in our commitment to independence and maintaining the highest ethical standards. We take the public interest debate seriously, as evidenced by the creation of our Public Interest Oversight Committee and appointment of three independent non-executives to our board.

In April, our Managing Partner for Public Policy, David Barnes, commissioned an effectiveness survey on the PIOC and, as you can see from our Transparency Report, much of the feedback was encouraging. There is, of course, always room for improvement and this year we will focus our attention on increasing the visibility of our independent non-executives and maintaining strong interaction with our stakeholders.

In November we conducted a full Board effectiveness review. This was very positive, giving Board members the opportunity to discuss areas where we could consider devoting more time to in the coming year. In addition, this year we had our second annual meeting with stakeholders and are doing more to change the way we report our contribution and impact (including this report and our Audit Transparency Report) - all aimed at providing greater transparency and understanding of our business.

We would, as always, welcome your feedback as a reader of this report about what additional reporting you would like to have from us.

David Cruickshank
Chairman