A board portal should support automatic voting and resolutions in real time. An enterprise management system built into the portal will aid in achieving goals and preventing scandals. A board portal that has the latest in security in the portal and in its components, will save the company massive amounts of money by preventing a data breach.īoard directors must be responsive to shareholder requests and concerns in a timely and appropriate manner to avoid proxy fights, dissent over director appointments and other issues. Cost-effectiveness also includes making the best use of resources. Good governance protects the corporation's assets, including from lost revenue, control of operating costs, preventing undue legal matters and loss of reputation. Board directors should be able to retrieve documents quickly and easily when needed to demonstrate how they made their decisions if they are ever called into question. A board portal should have the capability for administrators to limit permissions only to areas of the portal that board members need. Reports should be openly available to those who are affected by policies and practices. They may also want to initiate training for board directors in analyzing reports. There should be an electronic folder for each board member that includes a short biography, job description, term of service, and other information about board duties and responsibilities.īoard directors should insist on receiving reports that are transparent and easily understandable. A board portal that supports good governance will have sections for the bylaws, policies and protocols. The board portal should store a record of risk reports that demonstrate how the board arrived at their decisions. They must be accountable to the shareholders, customers, employees, the rule of law and to each other. An electronic system for entity management will help with internal controls, financial reports and other planning tools.īoards are accountable for all actions and decisions of the board. The portal will have a program for completing and submitting D&O questionnaires. A board portal that helps board directors comply with the rule of law will have features that automatically signal when D&O questionnaires are due, when an audit needs to be done, and when quarterly or other reports need to be released. In the marketplace, the rule of law refers to the laws and regulations that protect the shareholders and stakeholders. There should be some authority that enforces fairness. The rule of law means that rules and laws should be obeyed by everyone. The question is, 'Does your board portal provider support these eight components? If so, how? And is your board technology working well enough for you to fulfill your board duties so that you can make the best decisions that you possibly can?' Once strategic plans are moving along nicely, boards need to practice oversight to make sure that their plans are being implemented.Įssentially, there are eight main tenets of good governance. The best possible decisions require using the best risk management processes, which includes gathering information, evaluating that information and using it to guide the direction of the company. However, it does require boards to make the best decisions they possibly can. Good governance doesn't require board directors to make good decisions every single time. While defining governance as a concrete thing isn't really possible, we can put together a list of characteristics that, when viewed collectively, form the basis for good governance. While all that may be true, board directors will easily be able to recognize the effects of good governance when they happen. Not being able to define it, touch it, see it or hear it also makes it difficult to know whether governance is good, bad or mediocre.

Governance isn't a palpable thing, which makes it somewhat hard to define.

Diligent boards support