HKICS 10 th Biennial Corporate Governance Conference 2016 Corporate Governance Inside and Out Mr. Nicholas Allen
GUARD DOGS, POLICE DOGS OR LAP DOGS?
AN ABILITY TO CONSTRUCTIVELY CHALLENGE • Financial Reporting • Corporate Governance • Business Operations • Specific Industry Expertise/ Strategic vision
What Are Those Different Sources Board papers/Presentations One-on-One with Management Asset Visits Industry Specific Events/Learning Opportunities
Board Papers • Standard – the voluminous packs of presentations, reports which are circulated to board and committee members before meetings. • A very important source of information but a health warning CFO and CEO will vet all documents going to the board CFO and CEO spend considerable amounts of time “managing their boards”
One-on-One Interaction • One-on-one interaction will other members of the management team – particularly leaders of business divisions. • In some organisations this is encouraged (and my message to the Chartered Secretaries here is to be brave enough to facilitate it) • CEO/CFO should be brave, open and confident enough to have their team so interact. It is the triangulation of information outside of the formal setting of board and committee meetings that is so important.
• Visit assets and businesses and speak to the people there, below management level.
• Attend industry and related conferences • Particularly when you are not an industry expert.
Summary • Different “dog” for different skills sets • Use all four sources of information a. Board Papers b. One-on-One Interaction c. Visit Assets and Businesses d. Attend Industry and Related Conferences • Company Secretaries – Please facilitate
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