Comment améliorer l’efficacité de votre conseil d’administration ?
La bonne gouvernance d’un conseil d’administration est un des facteurs clés de rendement pour une organisation. Une gouvernance efficace s’assure que chaque objectif fixé est atteint, que les ressources de l’organisation sont bien gérées et tout en veillant au respect des intérêts des différentes parties prenantes de l’organisation. La question de bonne gouvernance n’est pas seulement un problème inhérent aux entreprises. Désormais, la gouvernance des organisations est essentielle. En effet, elles doivent fournir d’avantage de services à une demande de plus en plus exigeante, mais avec moins de ressources.
Dans ce contexte,Renforcer sa gouvernance est un facteur clé de succès.
C’est pourquoi de nombreuses organisations essaient d’améliorer leurs structures et pratiques de gouvernance, mais le résultat bien souvent en deçà des attentes.
Quelles sont les barrières à la mise en place d’une bonne gouvernance ?
De nombreux obstacles peuvent s’opposer à la mise en place d’une gouvernance efficace:
- Les personnalités
- Les contraintes de temps
- La culture organisationnelle
- Un leadership inexpérimenté
Le problème de temps est en effet une des raisons majeures de l’échec de ces organisations.
Un exemple flagrant de ce problème est le processus d’organisation d’un conseil d’administration. Légalement, la secrétaire corporative doit envoyer l’ordre du jour avec l’ensemble des documents attachés une dizaine de jours avant la tenu du conseil. Ce travail est laborieux et demande beaucoup de temps aux différents membres de l’organisation.
De nouvelles manières d’adopter une gouvernance efficace:
Depuis quelques années maintenant on voit émerger des systèmes appelés “Board Portal” ou portails de conseils d’administration, permettant aux administrateurs, au Directeur Général, au secrétaire du conseil, ainsi qu’aux différents membres de l’organisation, de gérer simplement et efficacement la gestion d’un conseil d’administration ou d’un comité.
Sécurisée, économique et écologique, la gouvernance sans papier est désormais incontournable pour toute organisation souhaitant satisfaire chacune de ses parties prenantes.
Autres articles:
Governance in an iPad
How effective is your corporate secretary?
Source : leadingboards.com
Initiatives to Place Women on Corporate Boards of Directors
By R. Christopher Small,
The Harvard’s blog on corporate governance wrote an article about the initiatives to place women on corporate BoDs.
You may have heard about the idea of quota system for women in Boards (France for example), but now in Austriala another program is considered : The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) has adopted a “comply or explain” diversity disclosure requirement which emphasizes gender diversity.
“In the paper, Initiatives to Place Women on Corporate Boards of Directors, forthcoming in the Australian Corporate & Securities Law Review, I investigate initiatives to place women on corporate boards. In the United States, the representation of women on corporate boards of directors has been flat for 6 years now. By contrast, elsewhere around the world the topic is a hot button issue. This includes Australia where the proportion of board seats held by women has suddenly jumped from 8% in 2010 to nearly 14% today. The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) has adopted a “comply or explain” diversity disclosure requirement (for emphasis termed an “if not, why not” disclosure requirement), which emphasizes gender diversity. The requirement is even more stringent than the London Stock Exchange (LSX) comply or explain regulation adopted after the Lord Mervyn Davies Report on women in corporate governance appeared in February 2011. The Australian Institute of Company Directors also has instituted a mentoring/sponsorship program, the first of its kind in the world, designed to obtain board seats for women. This article reviews these Australian as well as global developments, including enactment of quota laws (especially Norway and France), certificate and pledge programs (“Rooney Rules”), and hard law disclosure requirements (United States).
As part of a study group which includes governance scholars from Norway, the UK, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, we interview women company directors, along with company chairpersons and representatives of adjective organizations interested in the subject of diversity on corporate boards of directors. Examples of adjective organizations who have undertaken efforts to place women on corporate boards are, in the U.S., Catalyst, Inc., or Women Corporate Directors (WCD), or in Australia, the Institute of Company Directors (AICD) or the Australian Business Council (ABC). The expected outcome of our study group endeavor is to describe how various women actually have attained elevation to corporate boards and senior management positions, as opposed to the anecdotal and other non-empirical accounts which have dominated the literature to date.
In 2010, at the New South Wales State Library in Sydney, the group interviewed 16 women who serve as directors of publicly held companies, 5 company chairmen, and 4 representatives from adjective organizations. A subsidiary goal is to repeat the process in several countries, developing a comparative as well as empirical model of pathways for women to corporate board seats.”
To read more : blog.law.havard.edu
Source : leadingboards.com
What to do With Proxies That You Get in the Mail
On the bankrate website, Sheyna Steiner deals about the next question :
Why your proxy vote matters in proxy season?
“ Proxy season may be winding down, but next year’s voting season will be here sooner than you realize. If you’re at all interested in influencing corporate governance, then learn the ins and outs of proxy voting before your company’s meeting or before next year’s ballots arrive in the spring.
For small-time owners of common stock in companies, it can be easy to discount the importance of participating in corporate governance. Why should management at Exxon Mobil Corp. care about the votes from a shareholder with a measly 100 shares, for instance? But adding your voice to those of other shareholders, big and small, can get attention and influence the decisions of the board of directors, the management and the social and environmental direction of the company.
What is a Proxy? Why Do You Vote It?
Before the annual shareholder meeting, packets of information containing the proxy statement are sent to all shareholders. The proxy statement contains information about the topics to be covered at the annual meeting, including nominations for the board of directors and the pay packages of the top five executives. There are also proposals from management as well as shareholder proposals.
Also included in the mailing is background information on the issues.
The shareholder then fills out the proxy ballot, also known as a voting instruction form, and sends it back.
Alternatively, shareholders can vote by phone or over the Internet.
The various issues up for a vote every year receive different treatment from management. For instance, while the votes for directors on the board are binding, the say on pay vote and those on shareholder resolutions are considered advisory.
For the advisory votes, “there’s nothing legally binding where the company has to make a change. But even if there are just 20% of shareholders who voted in favor of a certain initiative, that’s a lot. When a portion of your shareholders get together in support of an issue, that warrants discussion at least,” says Jessica Clarke, advocate relationship manager at Moxy Vote, a proxy voting research firm.”
The author continue the analyse with the shareholder initiatives and their power over decisions
Shareholder initiatives
“Anyone who owns $2,000 worth of a company’s stock for one year can submit shareholder resolutions to be voted on at the shareholder meeting. Shareholder initiatives span many different environmental, social or governance issues.
Like most investment mailings, proxy voting materials tend to be complex and a little esoteric. In most cases, the nominations for the board of directors are not particularly well-known people, and the other issues up for a vote can also require some research…”
Source : leadingboards.com
Analyse et état des lieux – Gouvernance Corporative en France
L’Institut Français des Administrateurs et Paris Ile-de-France Capitale Economique, en partenariat avec le Conseil Supérieur de l’Ordre des Experts-Comptables et la Compagnie Nationale des Commissaires aux Comptes a publié le vendredi 06 juin une synthèse sur les pratiques sociétales de gouvernance en France a été réalisée à partir de l’expertise d’un groupe de travail piloté par la Commission Internationale de l’IFA présidée par Marie-Ange Andrieux et regroupant des institutions du monde économique et financier.
Ce rapport présente les progrès réalisés par rapport au niveau de la gouvernance en France. La gouvernance des entreprises a fait d’énormes progrès au niveau du fonctionnement des conseils. De règles efficaces, les entreprises ont fait un usage performant, la généralisation du principe « comply or explain » permettant de garder une certaine souplesse. Cette amélioration tient pour beaucoup aux hommes et aux femmes qui les animent.
Ce qu’il faut retenir …
Le rôle du secrétaire du conseil est devenu essentiel. Les administrateurs évaluent leur contribution personnelle et collective et n’hésitent plus à se former sur les sujets les plus complexes. La mise en place de comités spécialisés permet enfin de se focaliser sur des sujets de plus en plus techniques.
La féminisation des conseils
La loi requiert l’atteinte d’un pourcentage d’au moins 20 % de femmes au sein des conseils d’ici 2014 et d’au moins 40 % d’ici 2017. On notera que le Code Afep-Medef préconisait d’ores et déjà dans sa dernière version (2010) ces mêmes quotas.
Les sociétés cotées françaises ont fait preuve d’un dynamisme certain pour accroître la part de femmes au sein de leurs conseils. Ainsi, devançant d’ores et déjà les exigences légales, la proportion de femmes au sein des conseils d’administration des sociétés du CAC40 s’établit à 24 % à l’issue des AG de 2012, contre 12,3 % en octobre 2010.
Administrateurs indépendants
Plus généralement, le ratio moyen de membres indépendants du conseil est en moyenne de52 %, proportion qui s’élève à 59 % pour les sociétés du CAC40. Par comparaison, à l’échelle européenne, ce ratio moyen s’établit à 43 %.
79 % des sociétés cotées, dont la quasi-totalité des Bigcaps, spécifient désormais clairement leurs critères d’indépendance.
Fonctionnement des comités
La pratique des comités d’audit, de rémunérations et de nominations dont la séparation se développe – est généralisée dans le CAC40, et évolue très favorablement dans le SBF120, positionnant la France au dessus de la moyenne européenne.
Comité d’audit :
- 100% du CAC40 et 96% du SBF120
- En ligne avec la moyenne européenne (98%)
Comité des rémunérations :
- 100% du CAC40 et 93% du SBF120
- Au-dessus de la moyenne européenne (91%)
Comité des nominations :
- 97% du CAC40 et 84% du SBF120
- Au-dessus de la moyenne européenne (71%)
Parmi les autres comités du Conseil, on observe :
- Une particularité française : le comité stratégique dans la moitié du CAC40
- La montée en puissance du Comité d’éthique et/ou de gouvernance : 25% du CAC40
- Le Comité des risques en plus du Comité d’audit : 14% du CAC40
Responsabilité Sociale des Entreprises
Le thème du développement durable et de la RSE est, désormais, la plupart du temps associé aux présentations stratégiques et de plus en plus de sociétés du CAC40 pré-sentent des indicateurs extra-financiers et des objectifs chiffrés.
Un quart des entreprises du CAC40 abordent la responsabilité environnementale et sociale lors de leurs présentations des résultats annuels.
L’internationalisation des conseils
Si l’on prend en compte un échantillon représentatif des seules sociétés du CAC40, ce taux monte à 27 %, soit une part supérieure à la moyenne européenne des sociétés d’importance équivalente, laquelle n’est que de 24 %.
L’âge des administrateurs
La loi Française dit que Le nombre des administrateurs ayant dépassé l’âge de 70 ans ne peut excéder le tiers des administrateurs en fonction.
L’âge moyen des administrateurs des sociétés du CAC40 était, lors de l’exercice 2011, de 59,5 ans. Cet âge est en ligne avec la moyenne européenne, laquelle s’établit à 58,4 ans pour les principales capitalisations boursières.
Retrouvez l’étude complète sur : cncc.fr
Source : leadingboards.com
Senior Management Has No Idea where their Company Data Resides
According to a recent article on our blog “Confidentialité: du papier au sans papier…“ and the issues of Data’s storage in companies, some societies by their Board of Director hesitate to transmit Data’s company at their IT services. Confidentiality is the key of the Data management and many directors indicate that their senior management has little or no idea where their company data resides.
The Agile IT Governance website by one of these author CJ wrote an article about this issue.
“ The majority of companies surveyed also indicate they have no systems in place to account for which corporate files reside in systems managed by third-party service providers. Companies reported they have no way to track what data is being stored in the cloud and no process to manage access to that data.
In short, the survey reveals that:
- Only 9% of the companies surveyed have procedures in place to control access to data stored in the cloud;
- 23% of organizations are still developing their data access policies;
- 74% of respondents reported that they do not have a process for tracking which files have been placed on third party services;
- 68% either have no plans in place that they are aware of, or live without formal processes for granting and reviewing access
These survey results should be a wake-up call for all companies. CIOs should start developing and implementing strategies to ensure data security as quickly as possible.
Here are some questions that senior managers and the board of directors should be able to answer:
- Do managers know who is responsible for security?
- Does the head of security frequently meet the board of directors?
- When was the last time top managers got involved in security-related decisions?
- Would people recognize a security issue? Would they know who to call?
- Is the company clear on its position relative to IT and security risks?
- What percentage of staff had security trainings?
- Are managers convinced that security is being appropriately addressed in the company?
- Are managers aware of the latest information security issues and best practices?
- What can be done to successfully implement information security governance?
Protecting the interests of the stakeholders is a fundamental responsibility of senior management. This includes understanding the IT risks and ensuring that they are adequately addressed from a governance perspective. To do so effectively you need to manage information security risks, by integrating an information security governance framework into your overall enterprise governance framework. “
Read more on Agile IT Governance website
More articles: Confidentialité: Du papier au sans papier…
Caution – PATRIOT Act …
Les irréductibles du sans papier…
Source : leadingboards.com
Corporate Governance and the Problem of Executive Compensation
By J Robert Brown Jr
Corporate governance is one of those topics that only seems to grow in importance. Some of the importance comes from increased organization of shareholders.
The public has also become increasingly aware of these sort of issues. What was once a matter betwen managers and owners has now become an issue debate within the public at large.”
J Robert Brown in .theracetothebottom.org website, author of this article deals about the issues of executive compensation.
Compensation issues raise questions about the role of the board of directors. For public companies traded on a stock exchange, there must be at least a majority of independent directors. In fact, the largest public companies typically have a super majority of independent directors. Yet this structure has been unable to stop a steady increase in the amount of compensation, the payment of unnecessary perqs, and, until say on pay, a not uncommon disconnect between pay and performance. Nor has the structure stopped an escalation in director compensation.
This is one of those areas where the problem is clear, the source obvious, and the solution straightforward. State law determines the obligations of the board, including those connected to the approval of executive compensation. State courts, particularly those in Delaware, have adopted standards that impose no meaningful limits on executive compensation. This phenomena is discussed at length in Returning Fairness to Executive Compensation.
The Solution ?
Read the article on Theracetothebottom.org
Source : leadingboards.com
First Key to Agile IT Governance: Stakeholder Satisfaction
By Chiranjeev Bordoloi
The website CIO started a serie called The 12 Principles of Agile IT Governance.
The series is designed to help board members and senior managers leverage technology excellence as a competitive advantage for their organization. Each article discusses a key principle of agile IT governance and presents tactical measures that allow for deployment of that principle.
This interesting series accurate that 4 steps are necessary to focus on Stakeholders satisfaction :
1- Manage shareholder satisfaction with ROI on technology investments.
2- Improve management’s technology quotient.
3- Ensure that employees feel like they work for a tech-savvy company.
4- Actively contribute to open source projects and organizing hackathons to improve the company’s brand perception in the community.
Source : leadingboards.com
Les irréductibles du sans papier…
Lorsqu’on parle de « conseil sans papier », il y a toujours une hésitation. Bien sûr c’est plus pratique, et il y a les archives, et « on est rendu là »… mais il reste cette crainte du sans papier comme si c’était un saut dans le vide.
Le mouvement du sans papier n’est pas récent et de plus en plus dans les bureaux il y a le « pur et dur » du sans papier, celui qui vous rend coupable d’imprimer et qui ouvre son portable dans les réunions. C’est une question d’adaptation au changement, mais il y a des fois où on a besoin du papier…
Dans certaines situations, un conseil d’administration a besoin du bon vieux papier, car c’est le moyen le plus pratique pour partager l’information dans des situations particulières. Comme administrateurs vous avez reçu une plainte très sérieuse qui vise un collègue ou un employé. On ne met pas ce genre d’information à l’ordre du jour. On ne fait pas circuler par courriel non plus car c’est une bonne façon de prévenir la planète entière….
On revient donc (temporairement) au papier : certaines informations ne peuvent pas être mises en ligne, un dossier patient par exemple ou une dénonciation. On imprime alors quelques copies pour une réunion ou pour un « huis clos » et les copies seront ramassées à la fin de la réunion et détruites.
Les irréductibles du sans papiers comprendront… mais que cela reste l’exception!
Source : leadingboards.com
Women in Finance: Focus on board diversity is the tip of the iceberg
By Yasmine Chinwala
Yasmine Chinwala, the new article’ author deals about the diversity in boardroom. She has seen a significant increase in the number of women in Board of Directors in United Kingdom.
When the movement thrives, it should be pointed out”
“Not a week goes by without headlines about the growing recognition of the importance of women on boards. The figures in the UK at least are promising: women now hold 16% of FTSE 100 board positions, up from 12.5% last year.”
“In the light of such positive news, and with gender diversity making headway on the corporate agenda, the findings of the fifth annual Financial News Women in Finance survey are sobering. Of the 650 female respondents to the survey, all of whom work in the financial services industry, two thirds said their gender made it harder for them to succeed and a similar proportion said they felt they needed to work harder than male counterparts in order to be viewed at the same level of achievement by managers.
Ruth Grant, a litigation partner and co-chair of the diversity committee at law firm Hogan Lovells, said: “There is a mismatch between what’s being done and outcomes. There is a difference between management having projects and structures that they put in place and actually embedding those ideas into the corporate culture and how the business makes them part of the daily life and DNA of an organisation.”
The survey results are a timely reminder that, while top-level management of financial firms is largely convinced that change is necessary and has begun to implement programmes, there is still more that needs to be done. The challenge, particularly in depressed market conditions, is keeping gender diversity on the priority list.
Helena Morrissey, chief executive of Newton Investment Management and founder of the 30% Club, which has had notable successes encouraging chairmen to bring more women into board roles, said: “There has been a very long, slow burn over the understanding of gender imbalance, but a sharp pick-up and growing momentum for change over the past 18 months. The financial services sector, and especially bigger companies, are trying very hard, partly in an attempt to rehabilitate their reputation. It is a paradigm shift for many people.” …
Read more on the efinancialnews website
Source : leadingboards.com
Women in Finance: Focus on board diversity is the tip of the iceberg
By Yasmine Chinwala
Yasmine Chinwala, the new article’ author deals about the diversity in boardroom. She has seen a significant increase in the number of women in Board of Directors in United Kingdom.
When the movement thrives, it should be pointed out”
“Not a week goes by without headlines about the growing recognition of the importance of women on boards. The figures in the UK at least are promising: women now hold 16% of FTSE 100 board positions, up from 12.5% last year.”
“In the light of such positive news, and with gender diversity making headway on the corporate agenda, the findings of the fifth annual Financial News Women in Finance survey are sobering. Of the 650 female respondents to the survey, all of whom work in the financial services industry, two thirds said their gender made it harder for them to succeed and a similar proportion said they felt they needed to work harder than male counterparts in order to be viewed at the same level of achievement by managers.
Ruth Grant, a litigation partner and co-chair of the diversity committee at law firm Hogan Lovells, said: “There is a mismatch between what’s being done and outcomes. There is a difference between management having projects and structures that they put in place and actually embedding those ideas into the corporate culture and how the business makes them part of the daily life and DNA of an organisation.”
The survey results are a timely reminder that, while top-level management of financial firms is largely convinced that change is necessary and has begun to implement programmes, there is still more that needs to be done. The challenge, particularly in depressed market conditions, is keeping gender diversity on the priority list.
Helena Morrissey, chief executive of Newton Investment Management and founder of the 30% Club, which has had notable successes encouraging chairmen to bring more women into board roles, said: “There has been a very long, slow burn over the understanding of gender imbalance, but a sharp pick-up and growing momentum for change over the past 18 months. The financial services sector, and especially bigger companies, are trying very hard, partly in an attempt to rehabilitate their reputation. It is a paradigm shift for many people.” …
Read more on the efinancialnews website
Source : leadingboards.com
