• What does 'challenging' management effectively look like in practice? The AICD has published insights from three experienced number of directors describing how they approach the challenge of balancing maintaining positive relations with management against testing executive views 
• Canada | Bill C-97 proposes (among other things) to amend s122 (duty of care of directors and officers) to include a new subsection 'Best interests of the corporation'
• In Brief | Artificial intelligence as an antidote to board groupthink?  A recent post on Harvard Law School Forum argues that AI has the potential to be more effective than existing strategies to counter group think on boards and thereby aid and improve (if not replace) board decision making

• United Kingdom | Investors are unwilling to address excessive pay? A report from the High Pay Centre has found 'say on pay' reforms have been ineffective in addressing excessive executive pay

• Top Story | ACSI calls for compulsory cultural reviews and (board) gender targets for listed entities
• United States | Low director turnover is the key barrier to progress on board diversity on US boards according to a new study from Corporate Board

• Top Story | ACSI calls for reform of Australia's investment stewardship framework
• BlackRock, Vanguard and Fidelity under pressure to exercise their voting rights to apply pressure on companies to act to address climate risk
• In Brief | Active as opposed to 'activist'?  Are superannuation funds (and in particular industry funds) becoming more willing to exercise their power to influence decisions on specific social issues (eg labour reform), or is it just a question of 'active ownership'?  The Australian quotes ACSI CEO Louise Davidson as dismissing claims that industry funds are increasingly 'activist'.  'It is about exercising our ownership rights and responsibilities. Active ownership is different to activism. You would be hard pressed to see us as campaigners on specific issues' she is quoted as saying

• United Kingdom | Most companies unlikely to appoint a worker a director? An LAPFF survey has found that most UK issuers will not opt to appoint employees to boards (to meet new Governance Code requirements), preferring instead to appoint a NED to represent worker interests

• Recent AGM results: AMP, Woodside, Santos, Boeing
• In Brief | #MeToo resolutions? Google is reportedly facing a number of shareholder resolutions calling on the company to implement various governance changes to address the 'diversity crisis'.  One proposals reportedly calls on the company to disclose how it deals with sexual abuse claims

• In Brief | The AASB and AUASB have released the latest version of Climate-related and other emerging risks disclosures: assessing financial statement materiality using AASB/IASB Practice Statement 2.  Originally published in December 2018, the paper contains several updates and guides directors, preparers and auditors when preparing and auditing financial statements. Even though the guidance is not mandatory, the AASB and AUSB states that it represents the IASB's best practice interpretation of materiality
• In Brief | What does effective climate related disclosure look like? The Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) have jointly released guidance to assist firms to more effectively implement the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) recommendations.  The guidance includes examples of what effective disclosure looks like

• Top Story | (Maybe) CAMAC 2.0? Labor plans (if elected) to establish a new Treasury based taskforce to 'fill the gap' left by the abolition of the Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee 
• ASIC not industry should write and administer mandatory codes of conduct? Choice and the Superannuation Consumers' Centre's joint submission to Treasury argues that the existing model of self-regulation needs to be rethought to better protect consumers against harm
• Time to act to address unpaid superannuation: Unpaid Super Guarantee entitlements total $5.94bn according to an Industry Super Australia commissioned report
• The AFR suggests that the joint venture between Catholic Super and Equip Super could provide a pattern for other smaller funds, seeking economies of scale, to follow
• One regulatory regime for financial advisers?  The FSC has issued a statement calling for the regulation of tax financial advisers to be streamlined under FASEA
• APRA has called on the life insurance industry to urgently address concerns about the sustainability of individual disability income insurance (DII)
• In Brief | The Australian reports that Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten has said that Labor (if elected to government) would consider creating a government owned bank out of Australia Post possibly modelled on the NZ government controlled Kiwi Bank which is a subsidiary of New Zealand Post
• In Brief  | APRA has released a letter to non-authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) lenders seeking feedback on proposed amendments to the Economic and Financial Statistics data collection. The proposed changes would capture lending volumes from the non-ADI sector in a manner that allows direct comparisons to the ADI sector allowing  APRA and the Council of Financial Regulators to assess the impact of non-ADI lending activity on financial stability and whether measures are required to address a potential escalation in risk.  Submissions on the proposed changes are due by 1 June 2019

• In Brief | The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has published a discussion paper exploring possible options to address the challenges of applying the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) to less complex entities and views on possible actions to address these challenges.  Consultation closes on 12 September 2019.  Feedback on this document is requested to the AUASB by 31 August 2019 from all interested stakeholders
• In Brief | The AFR reports that the big four consulting firms: Deloitte, EY KPMG and PwC have faced/are facing a number of court actions over their auditing and advisory work

 Cybersecurity and Privacy

• Top Story | New board requirements and responsibilities: information security
• Companies leading in cybersecurity share certain traits according to a Deloitte report 

Climate Risk

• United Kingdom | UK parliament has declared a state of Environment and Climate Emergency, CCC report recommends a new net-zero emissions target for the UK 
• A number of Australian businesses are reviewing their association memberships in response to Business Council of Australia out of step with businesses on climate?
• In Brief | Human action is causing mass global extinction: A landmark study, the Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES Assessment) presents evidence that biodiversity is necessary to human survival, that human action threatens more species with global extinction now than ever before, that existing goals are inadequate and makes the case for immediate, transformative change 

Other Developments

• United States | The CFTC has said that whistleblowers who report internally first, may be eligible for an 'enhanced' payment