You’re fired…

How many CEOs of top global companies were replaced last year?

Well, the answer may surprise you and what also may surprise you is the reason they lost their job.

PwC have been keeping track of the movements of the CEOs of the largest 2,500 global publicly listed companies since 2000 and the most recent data for 2018 has been released and it shows some interesting things.

In 2018 the number of departures of CEOs reached a record level with nearly 18% being replaced (up from 12% in 2010).

It was the reason for their departure though which raised some eyebrows.

CEOs can leave their jobs for a variety of reason and PwC categorised the reasons as planned (e.g. they were due to retire), forced (e.g. they did something a bit “naughty”) or M&A (e.g. they were no longer needed due to a merger or acquisition).

The latest split showed the 18% of departures as:

Planned – 12.0%

Forced – 3.6%

M&A – 2.0%

Digging a bit deeper though into the forced departures shows some worrying reasons.

Historically the main reason CEOs were forced out was due to poor results but for the first time the largest group of CEOs forced out was due to integrity reasons.

In 2018, 39% of those forced out were due to integrity reasons. Ten years ago in 2008 the corresponding figure was only 10%.

These integrity issues could include scandals such as improper conduct, fraud, bribery, insider trading, environmental disasters, misleading CVs, and sexual indiscretions, according to PwC.

So, in summary more CEOs are being fired and the main reason is integrity issues.

All in all, a pretty poor performance…

Share this entry
Related Articles

Room for improvement at the Big 4...

Oh dear. It certainly wasn’t a great performance by the Big 4 when it came to their annual inspections by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC)[..]

Not the most truthful CV...

Have you ever exaggerated anything in your CV? My guess is that some of you may have exaggerated a teeny weeny little bit but I[..]

KPMG fires unethical partners

Picture the scene – you’re the senior auditing partner of KPMG in America with more than 30 years of experience serving some of KPMG’s most[..]
Recent Articles
Rolling in it...
Here’s a question for you – what do you think the average age is of somebody who buys a new Rolls-Royce? Perhaps surprisingly the average[..]
An unexpected ending...
A lot of you may have been on business trips but I bet your trip wasn't as exciting (and tragic) as this gentlemen's trip was.[..]
Would you send a photo?
Picture the scene. You’re one of the largest supermarket chains in the Netherlands employing more than 100,000 people. You’re planning on introducing a new staff[..]
Ericsson fined $1 billion for bribery.
The Swedish telecommunications group Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (or Ericsson as most people refer to it as and how my spell checker prefers) is an incredibly[..]
Exams for sale....
One of the five fundamental ethical principles is Integrity. Being straightforward and honest is a vital characteristic of being a professional accountant. Most people who[..]
Wave hello to a discount
The accountants amongst you will be well aware of the different methods of setting the price of a product or service. Going rate, cost-plus and[..]
View all articles