How we can help: We work as your governance partner, progressively providing governance advice and insight as your organisation requires it.

All of The Boardroom Practices’s services have been designed to support our core objective, which is to build governance best practice. We have found that the best way to achieve this is by creating a governance partnership with our clients – an environment in which they have access to trusted governance advice whenever they need it.

The starting point for such a partnership will depend on the nature of your organisation, and its governance needs. In many cases we will begin by reviewing your organisation’s current Board practices and governance standards. As part of the review process we will develop an understanding of your key issues and governance needs, and the outcomes of the review will determine your next steps towards governance best practice.

Good corporate governance extends wider than the boardroom and board members. It is important that there are sound and current communication practices between the board, management and stakeholders. These, together with performance monitoring regimes, are key features of our reviews.

Our focus is not limited to companies. As our case studies demonstrate, we have worked with companies, government agencies (in New Zealand and elsewhere), district and city councils, trusts, Maori organisations and individuals. Some of our work encourages organisational restructuring. In short, our focus is more extensive that what happens inside the boardroom.

Initial Board Practices and Governance Standards Review

This initial review focuses on your Board’s understanding of governance, as well as its governance practices and standards. It enables the Board to critically assess and then improve its governance practices, and is documented for the benefit of stakeholders, investors and regulatory bodies. The outcomes of this initial assessment will determine your organisation’s next steps towards governance best practice. It also provides us with invaluable insight into your organisation’s business practices and key governance issues, ensuring that your TBPL team can best address your ongoing needs.

Board and Governance Practices Review (Ongoing)

As part of our role as your governance partner, we will conduct a review of your Board and governance practices whenever you feel that one is needed. Each time, we assess the progress and changes that have been made since the last review, by gathering feedback from Directors’ and benchmarking this against governance best practices. The result of the review is an Assessment Report which is presented to the Board along with our recommendations.

Your Board and Governance Practice Reviews can include any or all of the following areas of focus:

• Board role and focus - Charter and responsibilities
• Board and Director responsibilities (conformance and compliance)
• Board size, structure and composition (including role of independent Directors)
• Board monitoring procedures (including audit functions)
• Risk management responsibilities
• Strategic Plan reviews
• Remuneration policies
• Organisational integrity - Code of Ethics and Conflicts of Interest policies
• Board meeting protocols and functioning
• Committee frameworks and responsibilities
• Director succession planning
• Stakeholder and constituents relationships.

Board Evaluation and Reviews
– A NEW ENHANCED, POWERFUL TOOL

Effective Board performance is recognised as an important contributor to good governance.

Board evaluations are the mechanism recommended in the various codes of conduct / best practices developed by both international and local governance and security commissions and institutions. These codes focus on all business and company types and not the traditional limited liability companies.

The Boardroom Practice Limited (TBPL) recognises the importance of Board evaluations in building and maintaining Board effectiveness and has developed a series of powerful but easy to use tools aimed at improving effective governance through the Board review process. Our experience shows while large corporations generally undertake a Board review on an annual basis, non traditional companies, eg cooperatives, statutory trusts and local government do not always complete and yet sometimes have a greater benefit in participating in a board review, as the members of these organisations due to their structure are at times less equipped in their understanding of the roles, responsibilities and legal obligations.