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Board effectiveness

Information and guidance on board effectiveness for corporate governance professionals. Board effectiveness is one of the responsibilities of the nomination committee.

In this section

Exploring governance - What is the role of a NED?

As governance codes have developed, the role played by non-executive directors (NEDs) on boards has become more prominent and exposed. In his series reflecting on how to create a high performing board, executive coach David Levenson outlines the responsibilities of NEDs.

How to excel as a board member – a guide for Non-Executive Directors (NEDs)

David Levenson and Siobhán Cahalan spoke on an ICAEW webinar exploring how to prepare for being on a board and what you will discover when you arrive in the boardroom. David and Siobhán follow up below with some more advice in response to questions that were raised on the webinar.

Webinars and other recordings

Board games: How to simplify the complex and win at board reporting

The practical challenges of information governance and controls and the potential solutions.

From Asos to Arcadia: how do boards stay on top of trends?

Hear from expert speakers on the changing shape of retail and board responsibility

Lessons from lockdown: how will 2020’s AGM season affect the future of governance?

As businesses fight their way through turbulent times, lessons can be drawn from the challenges of AGM season during the COVID-19 crisis.

Reduce the size of board packs

Following the publication of the Financial Services Faculty’s Information Overload Report earlier this year Hitesh Patel non-executive director at Aviva and chair of the ICAEW Insurance Committee and Zsuzsanna Schiff discuss how board packs can and should be improved

Worker representation on boards

Graeme Nuttall OBE (Fieldfisher), and Andrew Ninian (The Investment Association) discuss how worker representation on boards could work for business.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by external guest speakers in interviews or other publications included on this website are, by their nature, those of the speaker. They are not necessarily fully endorsed by the ICAEW or purport to reflect the official policies and views of the ICAEW or its members.

Bloomsbury Accounting and Tax Service

Eligible firms have free access to Bloomsbury Professional's comprehensive online library, comprising more than 60 titles from some of the country's leading tax and accounting subject matter experts. Find out who is eligible and how you can access the Accounting and Tax Service.

Effective boards and directors

Practical guidance on the effectiveness of boards and directors, covering a wide variety of corporate governance issues.

The effective board

A chapter analysing what makes boards effective, including achieving boardroom diversity and the role of board reviews.

Leadership

A chapter focusing on effective leadership by the board and its members.

Terms of use: You are permitted to access, download, copy, or print out content from eBooks for your own research or study only, subject to the Acceptable usage terms.

The Library & Information Service provides a collection of eBooks as a benefit of membership. Please note that ICSA publications are only available to ICAEW members and ACA students.  Please log in to access these titles. If you are unable to access an eBook, please see our  Help and support or contact library@icaew.com.

Maintaining an effective board

Chapter 9 looks at the board and good governance, which includes the work of the nomination committee. Board diversity, corporate culture, succession planning and recruitment to the board, director induction and development and board evaluation are all covered.

Good boardroom practice: a guide for directors and company secretaries

An authoritative guide to company secretarial practice. Detailed commentary is accompanied by over 80 precedents. Appendix 3 - Good boardroom practice: a guide for directors and company secretaries

Handbook of board governance, The: a comprehensive guide for public, private, and not-for-profit board members

This title provides comprehensive, expert-led coverage of all aspects of corporate governance for public, nonprofit, and private boards. Provides practical guidance and expert insight relevant to board members across the spectrum to aid the building of a more effective board. Written from the United States perspective.

Terms of use: You are permitted to access, download, copy, or print out content from eBooks for your own research or study only, subject to the terms of use set by our suppliers and any restrictions imposed by individual publishers. Please see individual supplier pages for full terms of use.

The Library & Information Service provides a hand-picked collection of industry press articles as a benefit of membership. If you are unable to access an article, please see our Help and support or contact library@icaew.com

The leopard’s spots: changing change management

A study into the tension between ongoing change management initiatives, the speed of C Suite transitions and the shrinking of middle management. The author's review of industry data suggests that the increase in change management initiatives set against senior management instability and a loss of middle management is leading to diminishing returns. They suggest that increasing stability and consistency in core areas is becoming more important to corporate financial success.

Pricing and CEOs: why top executives need to get involved

The authors conducted 49 interviews with executives from pricing software vendors, to understand how the best-performing companies use pricing to drive profits and select pricing technologies.

From CA to C-Suite

The rise to CFO is not solely about your skills in financial planning or capital management. The job also takes empathy, courage and resilience. But can that be learned? Matthew Brace looks at how mentoring can help you develop the necessary skills to become CFO.

Terms of use: You are permitted to access articles subject to the terms of use set by our suppliers and any restrictions imposed by individual publishers. Please see individual supplier pages for full terms of use.

Useful links

The Gender, Leadership and Inclusion Centre (GLIC)

The GLIC is a research community which collaborates with industry and produces high quality research in the areas of gender, leadership and inclusion at work. The centre, which is part of Cranfield University's School of Management, is responsible for an annual benchmarking report, The Female FTSE Board Report which has been published since 1999 and includes details of the number of female directors on FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 boards. The website provides information on the work of the centre, its research projects and published research papers.

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