The Director: Stand and Deliver - Board and director accountability

Underperforming boards and directors are delivering poor company performances and too many company failures. Companies that should be doing well are doing little more than surviving. Directors' and boards' reputations are, in the eyes of shareholders, investors, the media, public and regulatory agencies, taking a beating. The world and ways of corporate governance must change and adapt to meet new realities. Directorships have too often been viewed as honorary positions. Directors now have real work to do. They have responsibilities and legally enforceable duties and accountabilities. Good governance is now critical to the long-term sustainable performance of organisations whether they are private sector, public sector or not-for-profit. A board's activities are determined by the powers, duties, and responsibilities delegated to or conferred on it by the shareholders, through the constitution. Company performance is the directors' and board's responsibility. They strategise it, oversee it and are collectively accountable for it.