Corporate Governance Duties And Responsibilities Of Boards In Company Groups

This publication provides an overview of the duties and responsibilities of boards in company groups across 45 jurisdictions. The introduction outlines the global landscape of company groups, their economic role and the principal challenges they present with respect to corporate governance polices.

This publication provides an overview of the duties and responsibilities of boards in company groups across 45 jurisdictions. The introduction outlines the global landscape of company groups, their economic role and the principal challenges they present with respect to corporate governance polices. Part I develops a typology of legal and regulatory approaches that jurisdictions have taken to address these challenges. Part II highlights differences and commonalities across jurisdictions, especially as they relate to: how directors may take into account group interests; procedures for managing conflicts of interest; compensating losses incurred by a group company for the benefit of the group; transparency around group purposes and allocation of business opportunities; and allocation of responsibility for company policy and oversight between parent and subsidiary boards. Additional chapters offer case studies of recent and specific approaches to company group governance in Colombia, India, Israel and Korea.

This publication provides an overview of the duties and responsibilities of boards in company groups across 45 jurisdictions. The introduction outlines the global landscape of company groups, their economic role and the principal challenges they present with respect to corporate governance polices. Part I develops a typology of legal and regulatory approaches that jurisdictions have taken to address these challenges. Part II highlights differences and commonalities across jurisdictions, especially as they relate to: how directors may take into account group interests; procedures for managing conflicts of interest; compensating losses incurred by a group company for the benefit of the group; transparency around group purposes and allocation of business opportunities; and allocation of responsibility for company policy and oversight between parent and subsidiary boards. Additional chapters offer case studies of recent and specific approaches to company group governance in Colombia, India, Israel and Korea.

Boards of directors are coming under increasing scrutiny in terms of their contribution in monitoring and controlling management, particularly in the wake of high-profile corporate frauds and failures, and also their potential to add value to organizational performance through involvement in the strategy process and through building relationships with key investors. Despite the importance of these issues, not only to organizations but also arguably to national competitiveness, the nature of board activity remains largely a black box, clouded by prescriptions, prejudices, and half-truths. This book responds to calls for greater scrutiny of boards of directors with an in-depth examination of directors of UK organizations, drawing on the accounts of directors themselves as to their roles, influence, and the potential and limits to their power. Much work on boards of directors has labelled the board as a rubber stamp for dominant management, and non-executive directors in particular have been variously described as poodles, pet rocks, or parsley on the fish. Such accounts are rooted in assumptions of board activity that are essentially adversarial in nature, and that the solution to the 'problem' of reconciling the interests of managers with those of shareholders is to increase the checks and balances available to the board of directors. The findings of this study show that boards, in many cases, are far more than passive rubber stamps for management and that non-executives are encouraged to act as trusted advisers to the executives and the chief executive, rather than solely monitors of executive activity. Boards are important mechanisms in maintaining the strategic framework of the organization through setting the boundaries of organizational activity. The potential of the board members, in particular the non-executives, to fulfil such a mandate depends on a number of factors, including ability, willingness to engage with the organizational issues, and the degree of knowledge they have relevant to the host firm. Above all, the degree of trust built between members of the board, and between the board and key external constituencies, is at the heart of effective board behaviour.

These principles of corporate governance, endorsed by the OECD Council at Ministerial level in 1999, provide guidelines and standards to insure inclusion, accountability and abilit to attract capital.

In Boardroom Excellence, author Paul Brountas, a corporate attorney with more than forty years experience, discusses the qualities and components of effective boards in today’s post-Enron environment. Written in a concise format, the book is filled with informative practical advice for board members of private, public, and nonprofit organizations. Boardroom Excellence contains an informed discussion of fundamental corporate governance issues, including the duties and responsibilities of directors and the proper interaction of the board with the CEO and management. Brountas reveals how board members can be most effective when they are independent, possess integrity, are well-informed and involved, and are proactive. Boardroom Excellence offers timely information about Establishing the values and qualities that board members should possess Developing an environment in the boardroom where skepticism and serious discussion are encouraged Understanding what the CEO expects of the board and what the board expects of the CEO Creating effective independent audit, compensation, nominating, and governance committees Formulating guidelines for periodic evaluation of the performance of the board and individual board members