The Role of the Board (Australian Sports Commission)
What is 'governance'?
There is no commonly agreed definition of governance. Some observations and regularly used descriptions include:
- 'Directing and controlling the organisation.' KPMG
- 'The essential functions common to most boards can conveniently be divided into three: those related to its performance, those concerned with compliance or conformance with laws or standards, and those related to its overall operations.' - Henry Bosch. The Director at Risk. Melbourne: Pitman Publishing, 1995
- 'The exercise of establishing and monitoring necessary controls and strategic direction setting so that the organisation is equipped to respond to the changing circumstances and situations in the external and internal environments in order to meet the expectations and demands of owners and other key stakeholders' - Terry Kilmister. BoardWorks International
- 'The process by which a governing body ensures that an organisation is effective and
- properly run ... Governance is not necessarily about doing; it is about ensuring things
- are done.' - Sandy Adirondack. The Good Governance Action Plan. London: National Council for Voluntary Organisations, 2002
What is commonly agreed is that effective governance is an important ingredient in the ongoing growth and success of an organisation. Governance is more than just the board. The governance structure includes:
- The legal owners (members) - who are identified in the constitution and who are able to exercise certain rights under law and through the constitution and who represent the organisation as a whole
- The board - which governs the organisation on behalf of the owners and is responsible for the strategic direction and performance of the organisation, the allocation of resources, the assessment of risks, compliance with legal obligations and reporting back to the legal owners
- The chief executive officer - who engages staff and operates in accordance with the delegations and directions given by the board to carry out the day-to-day functions in running the organisation.
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