Another charity scandal, this time involving, Bothar, a much loved an organistion know for its whimsical “Are we there yet?!” Christmas campaign (Keena, 2021). However, many of the issues identified in the Turnhout (2018) report are of relevance here also: Clarity on the roles of the board and the roles of staff. Regular board skills … Continue reading
Category Archives: boards
How many Directorships is too many?
Should an investor be impressed or concerned where a Director serves on multiple boards? Should an experienced executive accept an external board position? On how many boards is an experienced director able to competently serve? These questions all ask: does it matter how “busy” a director is? Although most governance guidance and corporate reports do … Continue reading
The Role and Importance of the Board Chairperson
The successful application by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement(ODCE) to the High Court for the appointment of inspectors to Independent News and Media Group (INM) included evidence on the actions of the then Chairperson of INM, Lesley Buckley (Cantillon, 2018), highlighting the important role of the board Chairperson. So what is the … Continue reading
Managerial Hegemony – an under-researched phenomena
Agency Theory is the dominant theory underpinning corporate governance. The theory arises from economic theory and states that the separation of management from control in firms creates agency issues due to the conflicts of interest between owners(principals) and managers(agents) who are assumed to pursue self-interest (Fama & Jensen 1983; Eisenhardt 1989). This relationship enables information … Continue reading
New EU Rules on disclosure of Board Diversity
New EU rules are requiring additional non-financial disclosures to be included in the annual reports of larger listed companies (European Union Regulations 2017). A Diversity Report is to be included in the corporate governance statements which will include information on the age, gender or educational and professional backgrounds of the board’s directors. In addition, the … Continue reading
The Boards Role in appointing the CEO, the case of Horse Racing Ireland
The coverage of the re-appointment of the existing CEO of Horse Racing Ireland(HRI) and the boards involvement in that decision highlights a key board role, that is, the boards control role (O’Conor 2017). The board of directors has three key roles: control, strategy and service (Zahra & Pearce 1989). The boards control role derives from … Continue reading
The importance of the Board Chairperson in non-profits
The recent coverage of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association management crisis raises many governance questions (RTE 2017). Part of the crisis concerns a dispute as to who is the valid chairperson with two potential candidates. So how important is this issue, that is how important is the chairperson? And does it matter who is chairperson … Continue reading
Chairperson-CEO Duality
CEO-Chairperson duality, that is, combining the roles of CEO and Chairperson of a board of directors, has been a focus of research, and the UK Governance Code discourages role duality (Solomon 2013; FRC 2014). This separation recognises the different roles of the two positions and that separation will minimise agency issues (Solomon 2013). The primary … Continue reading
GLEN: Good governance protects your most important asset, your reputation
Evidence of poor financial monitoring, managerial hegemony and overall failures of governance have brought “an abrupt and inglorious end to the story of an organisation which was instrumental in driving arguably the biggest social, legal and cultural change this generation has seen” (Linehan 2017). In 1988 homosexuality between consenting adults was a criminal offence and … Continue reading
The Importance of good governance: the case of INM
Independent News and Media confirmed that it is conducting a formal, independent review to examine and inquire into matters concerning its possible acquisition of the Irish national radio station Newstalk, which is owned by, the Denis O’Brien controlled, Communicorp(RTE 2017) . This follows reports that the INM CEO, Robert Pitt, had a conflict with the … Continue reading
Corporate Governance 