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Board effectiveness

How can boards work better and improve their effectiveness?

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Articles & features

Exclusive CORPORATE GOVERNANCE COMMUNITY The company secretary: fit for the future?
  • Sep 2026
  • Victoria Geroe
Once seen primarily as corporate administrators, company secretaries are now central to board effectiveness, regulatory readiness and responsible technology adoption. Victoria Geroe, Corporate Governance & Stewardship Manager, explores how the role is evolving and what governance professionals need to remain fit for the future.
Exclusive CORPORATE GOVERNANCE COMMUNITY AIM’s new rules: what do the changes mean for corporate governance?
  • Sep 2026
  • Victoria Geroe
AIM’s rule overhaul gives growth and founder led companies more flexibility but also demands sharper board judgement. Victoria Geroe, Corporate Governance & Stewardship Manager, explores what the changes mean for boards, investors and governance professionals and how to use this new flexibility without weakening accountability or transparency.
CHARITY COMMUNITY Small charities – why size is no excuse for non-compliance
  • Jun 2026
  • Kristina Kopic
A common misconception among many trustee boards is that smaller charities are subject to a ‘lite’ version of regulatory oversight. However, when it comes to charity regulation, the legal duties and responsibilities of its trustees fundamentally remain the same, whether a charity manages a bank balance of £5,000 or £50 million.
Exclusive CORPORATE GOVERNANCE The role of boards in managing risk
  • Apr 2026
  • ICAEW
This session sought to help boards, directors and their advisers to improve their approach to managing risk. The session drew on the Risk Coalition’s latest publication ‘Raising your Game’, which provides cross-sector guidance for boards and their committees with risk oversight responsibility.
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CPD Training courses

Stay on top of the rapidly evolving corporate governance landscape and discover how to be a high-performing board director.
Corporate governance courses All CPD courses
Octopus

Guidance

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE How boards of accounting and finance firms can benefit from shadow boards
  • Helpsheets and support
  • May 2024
Shadow boards can be considered as a tool for navigating a turbulent and ever-changing business landscape. Find out how accountancy businesses can see the same benefits from setting up a shadow board that other sectors are already experiencing.
Well-led review of the Bar Standards Board: findings report
  • Report
  • Nov 2021
  • PDF (246kb)
Well-led review of the Bar Standards Board: findings report
Exclusive BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT FACULTY Special Report 65 - Smart Reporting
  • Report
  • Sep 2019
  • PDF (1,597kb)
This special report will be a handy go-to guide – we take you through the latest techniques and thinking behind the new smart world with which CFOs, and aspiring CFOs, must contend.
Exclusive BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT FACULTY Special Report 50: Business reporting
  • Report
  • Sep 2015
  • PDF (3,118kb)
This special report contains a few essentials on reporting of use to finance manager, controller and directors, including micro entity reports, the visual impact of reports and lean accounting.

The new boardroom agenda

The key to success in any organisation is long term, sustainable growth but managing that is harder than ever. Faster moving, more complex risks – and opportunities – require more assiduous monitoring, more informed decision-making, and much greater coordination among all employees to ensure corporate success.

Our new content series explores the central role board members play in this endeavour and how crucial they are to any organisation’s long term health.

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Karen Hester with a wall of kegs behind her

Webinars and other recordings

How to get to the C-suite
  • Podcast
  • 10 Feb 2026
This episode looks at routes to the C-suite, and the traits, skills and capabilities you’ll need to get you there. Accountants are highly represented in the C-suite, with one in four CEOs holding the qualification according to research by Robert Half.
Exclusive Supporting the board: Shadow boards and advisory committees
  • Webinar
  • 27 Nov 2024
Explore how shadow boards or advisory committees can keep your business at the forefront of progress.
Groupthink: the boardroom’s most pervasive problem?
  • Podcast
  • 28 Jun 2024
In this episode of Behind the Numbers, we discuss strategies to prevent and tackle groupthink at board level.
Exclusive Ten steps to become a high performing board
  • Webinar
  • 27 Jun 2023
Look at this framework for good governance and how to apply the Ten Steps principles to all governance work. We set out to discover what makes the difference between good and great in the boardroom.
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eBooks

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
Exclusive Chambers' corporate governance handbook
  • eBook
  • 2025
  • Andrew D. Chambers
  • Bloomsbury
A practical guide to corporate governance. Covers board effectiveness and director issues, SME governance, governance theory, sustainability, ethics and cyber, UK code developments, board committees, international aspects, risk management, internal control and audit.
Exclusive Evaluations that enhance board effectiveness
  • eBook chapter
  • 2024
  • Richard Fields
  • Wiley
  • Handbook of Board Governance
Explores the practical realities of corporate governance in public, private, and not-for-profit environments. Chapter 76 looks at board evaluation with reference to the legal and regulatory landscape in several countries, demands from shareholders and proxy advisers, board members an executive leaders, and practical suggestions for designing effective evaluations.
Exclusive Board structure, composition and effectiveness
  • eBook chapter
  • 2024
  • Richard Leblanc (editor)
  • Wiley
  • Handbook of Board Governance
Explores the practical realities of corporate governance in public, private, and not-for-profit environments. Part 11 looks at the control function of boards, administering a director competency and attribute matrix, model director orientation and education policies, managing teamwork on boards and director effectiveness in general.
Exclusive Maintaining an effective board
  • eBook chapter
  • 2017
  • ICSA Publishing
  • ICSA Publishing
  • The ICSA Corporate Governance Handbook
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.
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.

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Useful links

MHA Manufacturing Report 2026
  • Website
  • 2026
  • MHA
Annual report from MHA, surveying over 1,000 C-suite executives in the UK and Ireland. Highlights the sector's resilience amidst ongoing challenges which include supply chain disruption, cybersecurity, energy costs and skills shortages.
Board diversity and efffectiveness in FT350 companies
  • Website
  • July 2021
  • Financial Reporting Council
Research by The FRC and the London Business School designed to both understand the implications of changes in board diversity in response to the Davies Review, Hampton-Alexander review and the Parker Review and to look forward, to suggest how they can be accelerated. The report was launched with the press release Diverse boards lead to better corporate culture and performance
Audit Committee effectiveness 2020 Framework
  • Website
  • January 2021
  • Deloitte
This practical self assessment guide and checklist covers all aspects of the audit committee’s remit for companies outside the financial sector.
Guidance on board effectiveness
  • Website
  • July 2018
  • Financial Reporting Council
The FRC published revised guidance on board effectiveness in July 2018
Disclaimer

ICAEW accepts no responsibility for the content on any site to which a hypertext link from this site exists. The links are provided ‘as is’ with no warranty, express or implied, for the information provided within them. Please see the full copyright and disclaimer notice.

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