Today’s organisations are facing a more complex regulatory environment, changing demands from shareholders and a razor sharp focus on trust, integrity and culture. We look at the role of the General Counsel in this environment.
KPMG Forensic works with General Counsels across the country helping them respond to the most challenging bribery, fraud, anti-corruption and commercial disputes, so we took the opportunity to go straight to the source.
The role of the General Counsel is becoming more complex and more is being asked of those who perform it.
In our research, we found there was broad endorsement that in order to succeed, the General Counsel needs a seat at the executive table with direct reporting to the CEO. General Counsels were of the view that only with this access can they provide the strategic, commercial advice and the stewardship that is being asked of them.
KPMG sincerely thanks the Australian General Counsels who were very generous with their time and candid in their responses and we are delighted to have helped frame such an important discussion.
Throughout 2019, detailed interviews were undertaken with more than 25 Australian leading General Counsels from ASX 100 companies, not for profit organisations and the country’s largest privately held companies. We also drew on research undertaken by KPMG Globally with leading General Counsels.
The results are not as predictable as might be expected:
Today’s organisations are facing a more complex regulatory environment, changing demands from shareholders and a focus on trust, integrity and culture. Increasingly, the General Counsel is at the centre of the critical governance issues for their organisations. Clearly, the role of the General Counsel is becoming increasingly multi-faceted and more is being asked of those who perform it.
KPMG Forensic has developed a dedicated support service for General Counsels to help them navigate these new challenges, detailed in this PDF factsheet:
Please contact us if you would like to discuss any of the challenges.
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