Six questions all directors should ask themselves today

COMPLIANCE with the letter of the law of all existing UK legal requirements still doesn’t seem to be having the desired effects when it comes to slowing the scale, frequency or volume of corporate scandals.

Without waiting for further legislation to come down the pipe, there are six simple practical questions all UK executive directors need to urgently ask themselves. Doing so should help kick start the required change needed in mindset at board level to help to mitigate and prevent such scandals.

Do we set the right tone from the top?

Do we have good measures of culture?

Does the voice of customers ring loudly at the board table?

Do our remuneration policies have real sting?

Do we rely too much on our committees? (bonus related question: do we rely too much on paid consultants?)

Do we have enough industry expertise and operational experience at the table?

Despite rigorous legal compliance, if judged by ongoing UK corporate scandals and snafus at board level, truly independent directors are almost in as short supply as effective auditors and consultants nowadays. Though no panacea for what truly independent non-execs bring to board governance, honest answers to these six straightforward questions will immediately provide any executive board with courses for action rather than food for thought without need for further debate or consultative Green Papers.

Image credit: we are the city