“Better corporate governance is highly correlated with better operating performance and market valuation.”

A corporate board of directors is legally accountable to the shareholders and charged with the responsibility of governing a corporation. While those two facts do not change, the roles and areas of responsibility for effective governance do change. Shifts in strategy, the regulatory environment, available resources, and performance over time, make this so.

To be effective, the board, its committees and senior management must understand three points:

1. The requirements for increased oversight and governance facing this group today

2. How to evaluate the actions of management, the organization, and their advisors to meet these requirements

3. How to develop monitoring actions to ensure all required actions are performed well on an ongoing basis

Information produced by various oversight, operational, and control mechanisms to act in the best interest of the shareholders must then be integrated at a decision making level.

The roles and responsibilities of the board must be understood to effectively direct the performance of the organization.