Governance360 Blog

A board of directors is there to keep your company on track, and protect the interests of the company shareholders. It is not their job to run the company, that’s the responsibility of the CEO or Director and their team, however it is their job to ensure the company is delivering on what is has set out to achieve.

The Institute of Directors’ (in their factsheet on effective board meetings - see the links at the bottom of this article) perhaps sum it up best as they comment,

“Successful companies use board meetings to create and improve key business strategies”

How you run your meetings has a big impact on your business’s success. We set out a few suggestions for best practice below…

A Non-Executive director (NED - or sometimes called a NXD), is a member of the board of directors of a company or organisation, but not a member of the executive management team.

A NED is therefore not part of the day to day management of a business, however as a NED you are responsible as part of the board for the success of the company (why not read 'How to run effective board meetings' next?). Here we set out ten qualities that are sought from an ideal Non-Executive Director that will help make this happen…

A company’s Board of Directors is in essence your business’s governing body. They work for the company, are responsible for the company, and are there to provide the company with advice and guidance.

The decisions your board makes should always be in the company’s best interests, and provided you have recruited the right members for your board this will be the case.

However, the more skilled your board is, the better informed they are and the better decisions they can make. We explore here five tips for helping you improve the skills of your board of directors…

Writing minutes of a board meeting is a necessary part of making sure your board of directors is run efficiently and successfully.

There are not many legal guidelines on the contents of your minutes, although there are some common and best practices which you can read about here.

There are sometimes questions around the purpose and style of board minutes, which we cover below…

Part of running a successful board is minuting the meeting well. This is important so that when minutes are shared after the meeting everyone knows what their expected next steps will be and who is responsible for which actions.

Let's face it, board minutes may not always be exciting, but there are some things you should make sure you include in them, which we have shared with you below…

A growing number of businesses are appointing Advisory Boards to help them with strategic direction.

But what is an Advisory Board? We cover here what it is, why it is different to a Statutory Board and why you might consider appointing one for your business.

Part of complying with the legal responsibilities of being a director is managing conflicts of interest. They are important to identify as they affect the company’s ability to operate, its reputation and ultimately its growth, but once identified how do you manage them?

When starting a company and registering as a limited company at Companies House in the UK, every business must have one Director and one Shareholder, which is in most cases the founder/owner and can often initially be one and the same person.

As businesses grow, and gain second, third directors, a board of directors is formed. Most people can hold a director position, however there are a few cases in which you may not, which we cover below.

When you have a limited company, you may wish to appoint a company secretary, but what is the role of a company secretary and do you need one for your business?

As a director you have a legal obligation to be able to identify conflicts of interests in company decision making, but what are they, and why are they important?