Governance & board advisory · 04
King V Transition Pack
A principle-by-principle map from King IV to King V, redrafted charters and terms of reference, and a governance-outcomes report in the form the new Code…
A principle-by-principle map from King IV to King V, redrafted charters and terms of reference, and a governance-outcomes report in the form the new Code expects.
Boards moving from King IV to King V: listed companies, public entities and any organisation whose funders or auditors have raised the question.
The transition is the moment every charter and delegation must be re-read anyway, which is why this and the delegations framework are usually bought together. A board that adopts King V without re-examining its delegations has changed its disclosure and not its governance.
The law it sits under
The framework this work answers to.
King V was released by the Institute of Directors in South Africa on 31 October 2025 and applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2026. It is not a departure from King IV’s foundations, but three things change in practice: the structure and terminology are simplified, disclosure moves to a standardised framework intended to make governance reporting comparable between organisations, and the apply-and-explain discipline means a board must say how it applied a principle, not that it intends to. Because it is a code rather than a statute, King V binds through listing requirements, funder conditions, enabling Acts that incorporate it and the standard a court will measure a director against.
How the engagement runs
What you are committing to.
A principle-by-principle map from the organisation’s current King IV position to King V, identifying what already complies, what complies but is not disclosed, and what does not. The charters and terms of reference are then redrafted to the new structure, and a governance disclosure template is built so the next integrated or annual report can be written from the organisation’s own records rather than assembled from memory.
Most boards will find that they already do the substance and cannot evidence it. The disclosure framework is what turns that from a reporting problem into a governance finding, which is why the transition is worth doing before the first report rather than during it.
Related pages, tools and documents
The self-checks and working documents below are free, need no email address, and are the quickest way to judge the work before commissioning any of it.
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