The Irish Association of Investment Managers (IAIM) is currently in discussions with up to 10 Irish companies on corporate governance issues, particularly relating to the make-up and independence of their boards.

The association, which represents institutional investors in the Irish market, is putting growing pressure on certain companies which do not conform to best practice in corporate governance.

According to its director, Ms Ann Fitzgerald, it is focusing in particular on the composition of boards and the independence of the non-executive directors. "We are in discussions with a number of companies to achieve a planned programme of change," she said.

The pressure from fund managers for improvement in this area is starting to show signs of paying off.

Independent News & Media became the latest company to address corporate governance issues when it announced plans to split the roles of chairman and chief executive at its annual meeting yesterday.

Fyffes recently moved to strengthen its board with the appointment of two new non-executive directors, Ms Rose Hynes and Mr Declan McCourt.

Just last week, Kingspan named former AIB chief executive and current Aer Lingus chairman, Mr Tom Mulcahy, as a director in a move that was widely welcomed as improving its corporate governance.

However, Mr Eugene Murtagh retains the combined role of chairman and chief executive at the Cavan-based building materials firm, an issue that is understood to be the subject of ongoing discussions with the IAIM.

The association has also held discussions with Waterford Wedgwood, which is also chaired by Sir Anthony O'Reilly, about the make-up of its board and has received a commitment that a programme of change will be put in place.

Other Irish companies which fall foul of IAIM guidelines include Irish Continental Group (ICG) where three of the four non-executive directors have been on the board since 1987/88, while the fourth is a former executive of the company.

There has been growing pressure on companies to review their corporate governance following the raft of high-profile accounting scandals in the US last year.

The issue received further attention with the publication of the Higgs Report in the UK earlier this year. The report, commissioned by the British government and written by former SG Warburg banker and non-executive director of AIB Mr Derek Higgs, proposed a test to gauge the true independence of directors and repeated calls to split the roles of chairman and chief executive.

Mr Higgs also said at least half of company directors should be non-executive, barring them from holding positions of management control.