Given the major reforms in Queensland and New South Wales in the past 18 months, we will  have a focus on their changes, which are both interesting in their own right.  Queensland has moved to a principles-based approach in a range of respects, while New South Wales is implementing what I believe to be one of the most comprehensive and best thought through approaches to these matters anywhere in the world.  Both will be watched with great interest by other jurisdictions.

On the panel with me will be policy makers NSW and Queensland as well as practitioners at the audit committee and chief auditor level in both states who will be sharing their experiences and viewpoints as they implement the new policy frameworks of approach.  We’ll also be drawing comparisons from the IIA’s policy agenda which was launched by Lindsay Tanner earlier this year as well as canvassing the different jurisdictions in the room (Commonwealth, and state and local government from each state and territory in Australia, New Zealand and abroad).

Building on last year’s debate, this session will be of great interest for those charged with leading governance within government departments and organisations, or charged with policy setting — both to get a sense of where we could / should be going, as well as hearing from those who are already doing it and some of the lessons learned from these.

I’ve promised to make the session “more Jennie Brockie than Tony Jones”  so please pose a question during the session (Tuesday May 11 from 11:15am – sessions 6D & 7D) or come and say hello over the course of the ACIIA/SOPAC Conference.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Todd

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Many start-ups companies can progress much more quickly with an experienced Board.

The depth of experience, the critical thinking capacity and business connections add significant value. However, as a startup company struggles to capture funding, it often isn’t necessarily a great proposition for a non-executive director.

The Australian regulatory framework as it relates to company directors is particularly onerous – with the intent of ensuring that directors remain diligent at their role, protecting and growing shareholder wealth. There are significant legal ramifications if the company they are a director of trades whilst insolvent. Directors can expect to be sued under these circumstances in our increasingly litigious society. Coupled with generally equity stakes in lieu of payment or relatively low fees, makes becoming a non-executive director in a start up an unattractive proposition.

The Alternative to Traditional Company Boards

With this as a backdrop many companies find directors, by necessity, very focussed on minimising risk as opposed to performance, and this environment isn’t necessarily conducive for the founder of an early stage start up. As a result there is a growing interest in creating an advisory board. In a nutshell, the advisory board focuses on the business as coaches, advisers and mentors rather than something regulated by ASIC. It also adds kudos to the capital raising and profile for the advisory board members as the deal gets shopped around. It ensures much more robust thinking and as a result leads to achieving more capital for the same amount of equity.

TDA in conjunction provides advisory board services, as well as providing seasoned company directors to assist emerging companies to grow.

Find out more:

Advisory Boards & Audit Committees
Sydney / NSW South Coast
Todd – info[at]todddavies.com.au

Technology startups
Perth / Australian west coast:
Justin – www.emergination.com.au

Read more first:

Upstart – business coaching for startups

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The session will be co-chaired with Jon Isaacs, an Audit Committee Chair of a number of government agencies where they will facilitate a discussion relevant to all sectors on what makes a good Audit Committee.

The session will be held on Tuesday March 4, 2008 at 11:15am at the Sydney Convention Centre in Sunny downtown Pyrmont.  For more information on the conference, click here.

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So what does all this mean?  Well three things really:

• Great governance should be common sense
• Great governance shouldn’t be difficult to implement
• You shouldn’t have to spend large sums of money on compling or writing disclosure statements.

Our offering is really simple and is aimed at small and mid-cap companies:

• We’ll tell you quickly whether you comply already – and make sure you get credit for what’s already in place
• In the areas where you don’t comply, we’ll see if you already have mechanisms which address the spirit of the principles – again making sure you get credit for being a well governed organisation
• If you don’t comply and don’t have a good mechanism, we’ll give you guidance on whether this matters to your company, to the market and what easy and quick solutions are available to you.
• In rare cases when the answer isn’t a simple one, we’ll give you the answers straight and steer you to a cost effective path.

There are many quick wins in this area, and we’ll make sure you’re across them.

Why TDA?

Todd Davies has been a practitioner representative on the ASX Corporate Governance Council since shortly after the first principles and recommendations were released and was a member of the working group on Principle 7 (Recognise and Manage Risk).  He has deliberately positioned himself as a pragmatist on the group with a sense of how to make the principles useful in practice, and practical to implement.

Perhaps more importantly, Todd believes that this should be an area which common sense prevails and not one where consultants generate large fees.  We encourage you to hold us to that!

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Strategy, risk, governance and assurance

“Corporate governance, sustainability and strategy have become inseparable.  They are inextricably linked.” Mervyn E. King

A lot of firms specialise in strategy, risk, governance or assurance, but few seem to bring them all together. In everything TDA does, we bring the other disciplines to it, whether using risk management to underpin delivery of your strategy, or getting strategic alignment with these areas.

Please click on a link below to find out more.

Governance & Leadership

• Enterprise Governance – getting everyone on the same page
• Enterprise Resilience – positioning for prosperity in the face of dramatic change
• Compliance with the ASX Corporate Governance Council Principles and Recommendations

Strategy

• Relevance regained – strategic planning for NGOs
• Strategic risk and emerging risk capability

Risk & Assurance

• Fine tuning your Internal Audit function – Internal Audit transformation & quality reviews
• Getting the most out of internal audit sourcing – outsourcing, cosourcing and partnering
• Navigating the GRC maze – understanding GRC solutions and software selection
• Getting what was promised – project assurance and project risk management

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