A better board performance review

They are the same thing. You may also hear the phrase ‘board effectiveness review’ being used.

All UK premium listed and financially regulated companies are required to have an external board performance review once every three years.

Other organisations should consider the proven benefits of having a regular external assessment of board performance. Independent academic research by the Quoted Companies Alliance and Henley Business School confirms that periodic board performance reviews can unlock significant value (and prevent value destruction), improve board and executive relationships and enhance the reputation of the board with investors and other stakeholders.

A robust annual (internal) assessment of board, committee, chair and director performance should be carried out in the years between external reviews.

Recent research carried out by Deloitte demonstrates that different firms use a variety of approaches, some being more robust than others. Comparison against this research confirms that Halex Consulting’s approach is particularly robust and includes:

• Board Benchmarking board, committee, chair and/or director effectiveness survey

• Review of a sample of board and committee papers and minutes covering at least the last 12 months

• Focused interviews with all board members, the company secretary, members of executive management, heads of control functions, your external auditor and potentially your regulator(s)

• Board and committee observations

We can also facilitate a board discussion on where the board is performing well, and where it might improve and how best this can be achieved.

Our preference is to work with clients that genuinely wish to engage in the process and are willing to consider our suggestions for improvement. Board performance reviews should be seen as a key element of the board’s continuous improvement programme and should not be seen solely as a compliance exercise.

Yes. Clients regularly comment that they particularly like our flexible approach. Get in touch and we can discuss your requirements.

While we talk about services – for example, assessing the effectiveness of a client’s risk governance arrangements – in reality, we help clients address their governance challenges, whatever they may be.

Example recent engagements include:

• Helping an international financial services organisation restructure its subsidiary governance arrangements

• Working with a not-for-profit organisation to deliver a board development programme

• Facilitating board discussions on purpose, strategy, sustainability and decision-making in uncertainty

The best way to find out if we can help is simply to get in touch by giving us a call on +44 (0)20 3823 6569 or through our Contact page. We’re always happy to talk.

We cover all sectors but have a particular focus on financial services.

Anyone. (Seriously!) There are no minimum requirements for firms providing board performance reviews. We recommend you take care in selecting your board reviewer as a poor board performance review can cause more problems than it solves.

We are pleased to confirm that we apply the Code in full:

• Details of our competence and capacity are provided on this page, and on our Homepage, About Us and Case Studies pages.

• Details of the additional services we provide are provided on this page, and on our risk management and assurance pages.

• We do not provide independent board performance reviews (board evaluations) for clients where we have an existing governance, risk management or assurance relationship.

• We will perform a maximum of two independent board performance reviews  in succession for any client (i.e. years one and four).

• We may, as part of a bundled arrangement, provide clients with internal board performance review assistance through our Board Benchmarking relationship (i.e. years two and three).

• Each independent board performance review is subject to a comprehensive, written engagement letter.

• We seek to agree with each client any public or regulatory disclosure of the process followed and any statement that purports to represent our opinions before it is published.