Good Corporate Governance Training Slides
Good Corporate Governance Training Slides
Good Corporate Governance Training Slides
1. What are the key principles and practical details of Corporate Governance?
The “Cadbury Report” is the report of a committee whose chairman was Mr. Adrian Cadbury.
Corporate governance involves a set of relationships between a company’s management, its board, its
shareholders and other stakeholders.
Corporate governance also provides the structure through which the objectives of the company are set,
and the means of attaining those objectives and monitoring performance are determined.
Corporate Governance refers to the structures and processes for the direction and control of companies
Corporate Governance concerns the relationship among the management, the board of directors,
controlling shareholders, minority shareholders and other stakeholders.
What are the key concepts and ideas that you associate with Corporate
Governance?
International standard setters have continued to update their guidance on good corporate
governance practices
1. Greater focus on the role of the Board in risk management, tax planning and internal audit.
2. New Principle inserted: Boards should appraise their own performance and ensure that they collectively has the
right mix of experience. (Principle VI.E.4.)
4. New Principle inserted: Stock market regulation should support effective corporate governance. (Principle I.D.)
• Many Boards did not have structures that enabled effective analysis of the bank’s risks (e.g. they did not have a Risk
Committee of the Board)
• When Risk Committees did exist, Committee Members often were not experienced in Risk Management and they were
insufficiently independent from management
• Board and Board Risk Committees did not challenge Senior Management’s Proposals and Decisions
• Information provided to the Board was voluminous but not easy to understand.
3. Boards need to have a structure that enables them to perform their role effectively
a. Risk Committee
b. Audit Committee
c. Ability to oversee compliance
• Active consideration and direction of long-term strategy and approval of annual plan
• Monitoring of BP’s performance against strategy and plan
• Obtaining assurance that the principal risks and uncertainties to BP are identified and that systems of
risk management and control are in place to mitigate such risk.
• Board and executive management succession
Dominant model in the UK and the US Common in Germany and in some areas of
continental Europe
Supervisory Board (Aufsichtsrat) contains only
Board contains a mix of executive directors
non-executive directors
and non-executive directors
Executive Board (Vorstand) contains only
executives
Executive Directors
Non-executive directors
Independent
Non-independent
• The way to get to the correct answer is to consider the skills and experience that the Board needs in
order to fulfill its functions effectively, taking into consideration the nature and the complexity of the
company.
• The Board needs to meet frequently enough to be able to oversee the performance of the bank and its
management…
• …but if a Board is meeting too frequently, it is probably not focused on high-level strategy.
Directors should be paid fees based on attendance and responsibility (not in shares/bonuses)
Link the pay of Directors to the pay of an equivalent high-level professionals in other industries (e.g.
Senior Audit Partner at an accounting firm; Senior Partner at a law firm)
Also: it’s bad for society as a whole to prevent women from advancing professionally.
• Board Committees enable the Board to focus in detail on particularly important aspects of the
company’s business.
• Three key committees are:
• Audi Committee
• Risk Committee
• Nomination and Remuneration Committee
• Someone could be appointed to fulfill the role of the Corporate Secretary part time
• For big and small companies, the role of the Corporate Secretary could be out-sourced to the
company’s outside law firm
• Companies should have an ‘induction programme’ for new directors so that they can play an active
and informed role on the Board from their first meeting
• Companies should have a training programme for board members to enable them to upgrade their
skills or fill gaps in their knowledge
• People: who is responsible for what; how do they fit into the bigger structure?
• Culture: does the bank actually implement the values and ideas that it says it supports?
• People: who is responsible for what; how do they fit into the bigger structure?
We have a higher risk appetite related to We expect to make an 18% return on this
strategic objectives and we are willing to accept investment but we are not willing to take more
higher losses in pursuit of higher returns than a 25% chance that the investment will lead
to us losing more than 50% of our existing
capital
*Taken from Proctor & Gamble’s 2015 Governance and Financial Report
*Taken from Proctor & Gamble’s 2015 Governance and Financial Report
• Board Audit Committee: Is the company behaving in a way that is consistent with the Board’s objectives (policies
and procedures)
• Board Risk Committee: Is the company taking risks that are consistent with the Board’s objectives (risks and risk
management)
• Senior Management should meet regularly and formally to oversee the management of the bank
• Senior Management meetings should focus on high level issues, rather than on simple performance
targets and budget vs. plan discussion
• Management meetings should be constructive and enable free discussion and an exchange of views
• Not all senior officials need to/or should sit on the Senior Management Committee
• View of the company as a whole (risk may be acceptable within the context of a single department
but not when aggregated to risks in other departments)
• Broad risk view, including economic trends etc (risk may acceptable today but not when reviewed in
a wider macro-economic context)
• Specialisation and greater experience (more detailed and technical understanding of risk)
• Independence (Risk Management Department is focused on managing risk rather than purely
growing the business and generating profits.)
• Risk Management should be seen as a source of solutions, not just the department that always says
‘no’
• Risk management can find ways to enable business units to continue serving clients and grow
business volumes by suggesting ways to reduce risks in the portfolio
• The Risk Management department should be seen as a resource
• In well governed companies, there will be a constructive relationship between the business lines and
the risk management department
Compliance does is not just about ‘complying’ with laws and regulations…
…You have to be able to SHOW that the bank is complying with laws and regulations
• Sits outside the Management Structure (e.g. Chief Internal Auditor is a very senior executive but does
NOT sit on the Senior Management Committee)
• Chief Internal Auditor reports directly to the Chairman of the Audit Committee (except for
administrative matters, where s/he deals with the CEO)
• routine/recurring items;
• items that have been identified as risky or which have been the subject of ‘findings’ in the past;
• Items that arise during the course of the year
• The internal auditor needs to develop a strong relationship with the external auditor: they can
compare findings and help each other
• Deep industry knowledge with expertise in the way the company works
• Strategic outlook: internal audit understands the objectives and strategy of the company
• Strong relationships with senior managers and directors (in order to get things done)
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Experience of working in the business units (i.e. not a whole career spent in internal audit)
• Provides an opinion on the financial statements that are prepared by the company’s Finance Department
• May also provide an opinion on the company’s compliance with local regulations or the adequacy of
financial controls.
• The Audit Statement will state what the audit includes
• Different countries have different requirements for what an audit must include
• The External Auditors may also write a “Management Letter” to Senior Management describing any
deficiencies that they have found.
• External Audit’s key relationships are with the company’s internal audit department and with the
Audit Committee of the Board
• External Auditors are a resource that can be used by the internal audit department and the Board
Audit Committee to strengthen their own work.
• Happier employees who are more likely to stay with the company
• Understand their own objectives
• Understand reasons why decisions were made (even if they not like those
decisions)
• Greater rapport between senior management and middle/low ranking staff
• More accountability for performance
• This will be supported by high-performers
Family Governance
• What (organisational) structures does the family have to manage its relationship to the company?
• What policies does the family have to manage its relationship with the company?
When a family creates a formal Board of Directors, it separates issues of ownership from issues of
governance
• Policies that will govern the family’s relationship with the company (e.g. Family Employment Policy)
• The structures that the family will use to manage that relationship
• Important point is that this is a meeting that is called specifically to discuss matters related to the company
• At a minimum, there should be an agenda and, afterwards, a formal record of what was agreed at the meeting.
• The Founder/Patriarch (in practice) takes all decisions and informs everyone else (bad!)
• Family members who own shares make decisions, after consulting with other members of the family
• All members of the family* take decisions, even if they do not hold shares
* Very important: who are the “Members of the Family” for the purpose of Family Council Meetings?
• When the ‘Family Council” is working well, the family could set up a ‘Family Council’
• The Family Council represents the interests of the family – not all members of the family sit on the Family Council.
• The Family Council is the point of contact that the family has with the company
• Family Office
• The Family’s portfolio is managed by professional managers who are appointed by the Family Council.
• In practice, Family Offices are created when families have a large portfolio of assets to manage.
• Employment policy
• Representation on the Board/Senior Management Team
• Dividend Policy
• Sale of shares (do other members of the family have first option to buy?)
• Valuation of shares
Does the family have the right to say, “We want the CEO to always be a member of the family”?
Companies can use compliance as a way to position themselves as market leaders in governance and
‘best practices’
Andrew Cunningham
Director
Darien Analytics
Email: andrew@darienanalytics.com
Website: www.darienmiddleeast.com