Governance isn’t just for listed entities. It is important for companies of all sizes. Not sure where to start? We’re here to help.
1. Start
It will (nearly) always be better to do something rather than nothing. Regularly set aside some time to focus on governance.
Heres’ some questions to get you started:
- Does your business have a strategic plan together with KPIs and budget? Is progress reviewed regularly?
- What are the top 5 risks for your company? How are you managing them?
- Are your directors clear on what decisions are for them (individually or as a board), reserved for shareholders or delegated to managers?
- Are financial reports reviewed regularly, understood and discrepancies or other issues of concern addressed?
- Does your company have a whistleblowers’ hotline?
2. Build it in
Consider how you can build governance into your business, such as:
- Regular meetings to consider and discuss performance (financial, KPIs, customer complaints, disputes and compliance, for example safety or environmental incidents)
- Risk registers
- Control methods, for example, using IT permissions to control who can access what records and do what (view or edit) or approve what payments
- Policies and procedures
- Training for employees, directors and in some cases, you may want to cover your contractors
3. Get help
If you need it, get some help. Maybe that will be some formal education for your directors (check out AICD or the Governance Institute) or additional resource (employee or advisor).
4. Continuous improvement
Keep at it. It is worth expending time and resource to keep ahead of any potential issues – while it may be hard to measure the return on this investment, do nothing and the cost will catch up to you sooner or later.
Thank you for reading an Abledale Tale. As the name suggests, this isn’t advice, it’s just a story. Whether you are looking to incorporate or your company is established, please get in touch to discuss how we may be able to assist you.
