What does the Board of Directors Do?

The board of directors are the individuals responsible for the governance, control, management and strategic direction of the organisation.

Boards are responsible for:

• Appointing and removing the CEO and evaluating their performance.
• Working with management to set the strategic direction i.e. goals, strategies and performance targets for the organisation.
• Ensuring there are adequate processes/systems in place to ensure compliance with accounting, legal, environmental, regulatory, and community obligations.
• Setting the organisation’s risk appetite and ensuring systems are in place to manage those risks.
• Reporting to shareholders/members.
• Monitoring performance against the strategic plan, budgets and targets.

In addition, the board of directors are responsible for ensuring their organisations are sustainable and can meet the challenges of the future. Unfortunately, as detailed in the book ‘Creative Destruction’ by Foster and Kaplan, most companies will fail in this objective.