with the Code will be included in accounts with a year end after 1 January 2012.

While the Code is voluntary, its adoption is strongly recommended. There is an expectation that all CIS and management companies will adopt the Code. The Central Bank have asked the IFIA to report on its adoption after the first 12 months of implementation.

It is the board of directors that retains the primary responsibility for corporate governance for a CIS or management company. The Code very usefully restates the IOSCO definition of governance of CIS as a "framework for the organisation and operation of CIS that seeks to ensure that CIS are organised and operated efficiently and exclusively in the interests of their investors, and not in the interest of CIS insiders."

Directors will be particularly interested to see that;

• Boards should include at least one independent* director
• Each director should supply details of their time commitments, including time devoted to other directorships (including non Irish CIS)** and full time job and should demonstrate that they have the time to act as a director
• Boards should have procedures in place to ensure that they review their performance and the individual performance of directors annually