Regulation, legal standards and compliance are inevitable when it comes to operational accountability. Regulators have introduced legislation and minimum standards that must be adhered to.

Codes can be frustrating and complex but they are in place to help baseline and improve the ethical foundation of organisations, ensuring they are resilient should something go awry.

Making organisations accountable to their stakeholders should be the most effective way of ensuring a sustainable and future-proofed operation. However, organisations must ask themselves whether their approach to corporate governance compliance is geared towards implementing and supporting the right behaviours on behalf of the stakeholders (including employees), or whether they have adopted a ‘because we have to’ approach. Boards need to accept that the regulatory requirements must not be the only consideration, because what looks good on paper, might not always be sufficient or happening in practice.

A wisely governed organisation approaches compliance with legal advisory oversight and considers:

  1. Design - consider the architecture of what has to be done;
  2. Feasibility - whether the law both requires and allows the governance style proposed; and
  3. Implementation - deliver the content support needed from process, documentation, training and monitoring to achieve compliance successfully.
     

Download our guide to learn how your business can demonstrate compliance and explore how effective corporate governance should be shaping your business.

 

Download Trust in the Boardroom sustainable governance guide

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