Published in January 2003, the Higgs Report on Corporate Governance provoked strong and controversial reactions. Business leaders feared it would create unnecessary and overly rigid divisions within boards. They also thought that the authority of chairmen was being challenged in favour of the senior independent non-executive director and that its
implementation would result in many vacant boardroom positions. On the other hand, the proposal has been supported by leading UK investment institutions and 90% of it has been adopted by the Financial Reporting Council and later included in a Combined Code on Corporate Governance.