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Chair of the board

Find out more about the role and responsibilities of the chair of a company board

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Articles & features

The Board Scorecard: shifting the climate conversation
  • Apr 2022
  • ICAEW Insights
Board chairs and non-executive directors wanted a simpler way to benchmark their progress towards net zero. The new Chapter Zero Board Scorecard is the result.
Exclusive Diverse boards lead to success
  • Dec 2021
  • Yetunde Hofmann
Why are black women largely absent?
9 Traits of an effective Audit Committee
  • Sep 2018
  • Corporate Governance Community
Having an effective Audit Committee is essential for good corporate governance as it leads on financial reporting, internal controls, risk management and external audit functions.

Guidance

Information overload: effective boards and committees in financial services ICAEW provides practical recommendations to reduce the size of board packs and make them more effective for boards. Our proposals will enable board chairs, management, executives and non-executives to improve their own papers, ensure that responsibilities are clearly defined and make sure that non-executives do not have to deal with information overload. The proposals we provide work in the context of three overarching principles.
FINANCIAL SERVICES FACULTY Information overload: effective boards and committees in financial services
  • Thought leadership report
  • Feb 2019
ICAEW provides practical recommendations to reduce the size of board packs and make them more effective for boards. Our proposals will enable board chairs, management, executives and non-executives to improve their own papers, ensure that responsibilities are clearly defined and make certain that non-executives do not have to deal with information overload. The proposals we provide work in the context of three overarching principles.

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
Octopus

Bloomsbury Accounting and Tax Service

Eligible firms have free access to Bloomsbury Professional's comprehensive online library, comprising around 80 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.
Exclusive The effective board
  • eBook chapter
  • 2020
  • Andrew Chambers
  • Bloomsbury Professional
  • Corporate Governance Handbook
A chapter analysing what makes boards effective, including achieving boardroom diversity and the role of board reviews.
Exclusive Leadership
  • eBook chapter
  • 2020
  • Andrew Chambers
  • Bloomsbury Professional
  • Corporate Governance Handbook
A chapter focusing on effective leadership by the board and its members.
Exclusive A job for the girls!
  • eBook chapter
  • 2020
  • Andrew Chambers
  • Bloomsbury Professional
  • Corporate Governance Handbook
A chapter on the progress of women on boards, focusing in particular on how to increase the number of female chairs. 
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.

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 The chairman of the board
  • 2017
  • ICSA Publishing
  • ICSA Publishing
  • The ICSA Corporate Governance Handbook
Chapter 11 looks at the Chairman's role in governance and their role on the board and the chair's interaction with CEO, company secretary, senior independent director (SID) and shareholders.
Exclusive Driven to the brink: why corporate governance, board leadership and culture matter
  • 2017
  • Alicia Micklethwait, Patricia Dimond
  • Palgrave
A collection of stories about how inadequate governance and flawed culture caused a massive destruction of shareholder value.
Exclusive Charity Law and Governance: A Practical Guide
  • 2017
  • PDF (694kb)
  • Cecile Gillard | Kirsty Semple
  • ICSA Publishing
A guide to the legal and regulatory framework within which both registered and unregistered charities in England and Wales operate
Exclusive How to Run a Charity enhanced
  • 2017
  • PDF (595kb)
  • Cecile Gillard
  • ICSA Publishing
This guide offers practical support and advice to anyone involved in the management and administration of charities
Exclusive Corporate governance handbook
  • 2017
  • PDF (2,211kb)
  • Bernadette Barber | Barbara Allen
  • ICSA Publsihing
The Handbook provides full explanations of the statutory and regulatory regime applicable to listed companies but also, for the first time, addresses how governance best practice might be applied by private companies, including subsidiaries,
Exclusive Directors' meetings and resolutions
  • 2016
  • Douglas Armour
  • ICSA Publishing
  • Company Secretarys Handbook
An authoritative guide to company secretarial practice. Detailed commentary is accompanied by over 80 precedents. Chapter 9 of the handbook - Directors' meetings and resolutions - looks at procedures around appointment of committees, board meetings minutes and the role of the company secretary in relation.
Exclusive Good boardroom practice: a guide for directors and company secretaries
  • 2016
  • Douglas Armour
  • ICSA Publishing
  • Company Secretarys Handbook
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
Exclusive ICSA Non-executive director's handbook
  • 2016
  • PDF (906kb)
  • Brian Coyle
  • ICSA Publishing
An essential source of reference and route map for the position of Non-executive director. Contains case studies and checklists throughout.
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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Industry press

The Library & Information Service provides a collection of articles as a benefit of membership. Please log in to view these articles. If you are unable to access the articles, please see our Help and support page or contact library@icaew.com.
Exclusive Leading a board of directors in the UK
  • May 2021
  • Stanislav Shekshnia
  • INSEAD
An in-depth overview of the role of the board chair in the United Kingdom. Includes the Chair's work in context and the UK's culture; relationships with shareholders, difficult board members, the CEO; COVID-19 challenges and a role profile of the chair in the UK.
Exclusive Audit committee effectiveness: practical tips for the chair
  • Mar 2019
  • Paula Loop
  • Vanguard Publications
The article focuses on the effects of audit committee in day to day challenges faced by businesses. Topics include need of experienced, healthy skepticism, and strong communication skill based audit committee effectiveness; help of audit committees for adding new members to structured on-board process; and importance of executive and private sessions for effective functioning of the committee.
Exclusive Follow this job description for a board chair
  • Dec 2018
  • John Wiley & Sons
Article give a list of the duties that a board chair should fulfil.
Exclusive Being a good board chair
  • Mar 2018
  • Stanislav Shekshnia
  • Harvard Business School Publication Corp
How to be an effective board chair: eight principles for chairs to follow, plus examples of leaders who apply them well.
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.

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Useful links

The UK Corporate Governance Code
  • Jan 2024
  • Financial Reporting Council

UK Corporate Governance Code 2024 (for accounting periods on or after 1 January 2025): Section 1: Board leadership and company purpose and Section 2 – Division of responsibilities

UK Corporate Governance Code 2018. Section1: Board leadership and company purpose and Section 2: Division of responsibilities

Covid -19 interviews
  • Apr 2020
  • Board Alchemy
ICAEW member Hanif Barma, who runs the board effectiveness consultancy, Board Alchemy, has conducted a series of interviews with FTSE chairs, risk committee members and charity governance professionals to hear how they are approaching the COVID-19 crisis. Read his findings.
Interview with IVSC Chairman, Lord Alistair Darling
  • Oct 2019
  • ICAEW
IVSC Chief Executive, Nick Talbot, outgoing Chair of the Board of Trustees, Sir David Tweedie, and incoming Chair, Alistair Darling, share reflections on the progress made by, and opportunities facing, the global valuation profession.
Guidance on board effectiveness
  • Jul 2018
  • Financial Reporting Council
Guidance published by the FRC in July 2018 'to stimulate boards thinking on how they can carry out their role and encourage them to focus on continually improving their effectiveness.' The role of the chairman is one of the issues covered in Section 2.
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