Archive for the ‘Ethical Leadership, Citizenship and Integrity’ Category

« Older Entries

What boards and individual directors can learn from Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and managing conflicts of interest

Nov 29

Posted in Ethical Leadership, Citizenship and Integrity | Comments Off

What is the lesson here for boards of directors and individual directors and officers? Avoid conflicts of interest at all times, but if and when they do occur, the test is perception and process. Every board should have a conflict of interest statement that applies to officers and directors, and to a control person or significant shareholder if applicable. It should cover identification and resolving of the conflict. If you are in doubt as to whether you have a conflict, you must disclose and cannot influence or take part in a decision, transaction, arrangement or otherwise in which you: can be perceived to have an interest, direct or indirect; cannot be seen to be impartial from an outsider point of view; or receive a benefit not shared by other shareholders. If you do take part in the decision, or do not disclose the potential conflict, or attempt to influence the vote, you risk detailed legal scrutiny after the fact to show your conduct was improper and did not conform to best practice. Records of the matter should be kept, a special committee may need to be formed composed only of directors who are seen to be independent in all ways from the matter and the director or officer or shareholder with the conflict, and expert independent advice should be sought. These best practices will protect the board as well as yourself and your reputation that you acted prudently, exercised your duty of care, were transparent, and acted only in the best interest of the company and all shareholders.

Regulators turning up anti-bribery heat on corporate boards: But will practices change?

Nov 19

Posted in Audit Committee, Ethical Leadership, Citizenship and Integrity, Global Corporate Governance, Risk Governance and Combined Assurance | Comments Off

Russia is one of the most corrupt nations in the world (see a recent anti-corruption story on Russia by the New York Times). It ranks 143rd of all 182 countries on Transparency International’s corruption perception index, with a score of 2.4. Canada ranks the 10th least corrupt country in the world with a score of 8.7. New Zealand is the least corrupt country globally, ranking first with an overall score of 9.5. The US ranks 24th and the UK 16th, with scores of 7.1 and 7.8 respectively. See the “Full Table and Rankings,” where countries can be searched via the table. Lower rankings and higher scores mean the country is perceived as being less corrupt.

Prime Minister Harper visited China, India and Brazil to enhance trade with these countries, which are also some of the most corrupt nations in the world, ranking in at 95th, 75th and 73rd respectively. Libya, which involved the alleged Montreal-based SNC Lavalin bribes of some $56 million, comes in at 168. Within these countries, the governments themselves are the net beneficiaries of much of the corruption, so these politicians are far from motivated to impose reform.

Is it realistic to expect that Anglo-American nations, such as the US, UK and Canada, can impose “Western” will on the very way business is done, and has been done, in some countries for centuries? And if things will not or perhaps cannot change, should home country boards of directors be held responsible for systemic local corruption that may be beyond their control?

Regulators are taking corruption and the role of boards and senior management very seriously. The Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice recently released 130 pages of guidance (see the PDF and other coverage here and here) on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). The US has had the FCPA since 1977. Enforcement and penalties have gone up dramatically in recent years. The UK Bribery Act, from 2010, has some of the most stringent bribery laws in the world. In Canada, we have The Corruption of Foreign Officials Act (since 1999) and the recent guideline from the OSC for issuers operating in emerging markets (see the PDF).

Emerging economies are future markets for Canadian companies. The Prime Minister has a vision for Canada to be an energy supplier superpower. For this to happen, Canada will shift its trade to markets with 100s of millions or billions of consumers and much higher growth rates than our current major trade partner, the US, which could be coping with austerity due to its debt for years to come. Harper was in India last week to boost trade.

What is clear is that there is an enormous disconnect between the home country regulations now being imposed, and host country actual practices on the ground.

What should boards that have operations in emerging market jurisdictions do? Six things. First, if you are doing business in such a market, you need a director with extensive on-the-ground experience at the board table, who can tell you and management what the hotspots are. You should move a board meeting to the jurisdiction once a year so directors can get a first hand look. Second, boards must make it crystal clear to management that if the company is not going to bribe, management must walk away from certain business. And the board must support this and not have incentives that promote bribery. Third, the internal controls over financial reporting must be as strong in the emerging market as it is in the home market. Investment and resource commitments need to be made. Fourth, boards must have their own experts to scrutinize off-balance sheet and related-party transactions and complex structures; validate and assure internal controls; and provide foreign language document translation. Fifth, local auditors should have the same oversight, scrutiny, and as necessary direct contact with the audit committee that the home auditors have. Lastly, there needs to be zero tolerance by the board communicated to each employee and supplier. The UK is even banning facilitating payments, which are regarded as a “tip,” as these may be bribes in disguise.

Companies and politicians are feeling the pain, including on Canadian shores. The Wal-Mart bribery probe has widened beyond Mexico to include China, Brazil and India. The RCMP is investigating the SNC Lavalin bribery allegations, on which I advised a law firm suing the company. I blogged about Sino-Forest, a case of alleged Chinese fraud by a Canadian-listed company. In Quebec, the corruption inquiry has cost the Mayors of Montreal and Laval their jobs and this is only the beginning. There are allegations of kickbacks in cash that may reach other more senior politicians. And Ontario is not immune either. A senior Canadian director remarked that Ontario has a reputation for being “the best place to carry out a stock fraud in the industrialized world.”

Clearly, more work needs to be done. Canada’s corruption ranking on Transparency International may go down in 2012 instead of up.

Trust and integrity in corporate governance

Oct 27

Posted in Ethical Leadership, Citizenship and Integrity, Uncategorized | Comments Off

I served on a panel this week with the CEO of a financial institution, among other panelists. We were talking about compliance with emerging governance regulations. The audience was primarily lawyers. Towards the end of the discussion, the CEO made a brief remark about the importance of trust on a board. “Trust is not in any of the regulations,” he said. Quite true. We didn’t have time to elaborate during the panel, but I want to expand on this issue by defining trust and integrity and outlining three types of governance relationships requiring trust, with examples, below.

Trust is crucial in a board environment to promote transparency and accountability. Without trust, there are gaps in oversight and information flow. Decision-making failure can result.

Trust, however, is underpinned by personal integrity. Integrity is the building block of trust.

“Integrity” has a very specific meaning in the governance context. “Integrity” means consistency between what a director says, writes and does. It means authenticity, candor, reliability, confidentiality, solidarity, and a willingness to accept personal accountability and be bound by board decisions and a director’s own role within them.

Most importantly, “integrity” means putting the interests of the organization above your own, and even putting your own reputation or that of the organization at risk in doing so. It means having the courage to take significant principled action when necessary, for the ultimate good of the company. “Integrity” also means using power appropriately and always acting in a way that withstands the harshest scrutiny. Integrity is one of the highest bars in the governance game because the opportunities for self-interest and enrichment are so plentiful.

If a manager or director has defects in integrity, in any of the above examples, others will not trust them.

There are at least three major types of trust in the governance context: (i) Board-CEO, (ii) CEO-C-Suite, and (iii) Director-Director trust.

(i)       Board-CEO trust

First, the board needs to trust the CEO to bring full disclosure and transparency into the boardroom. The CEO will not disclose fully if one or more directors do not possess integrity or the CEO does not. A CEO needs to trust a board that directors will react to candid thoughts and pre-plans in a mature, measured and confidential way. A CEO’s integrity is equally important. If a CEO is defensive, holding cards close to the vest, and selectively disclosing, a board will know this and get frustrated. Crucially, if a CEO ever holds back key information, or misleads the board, there is only one chance. The Board-CEO relationship will be permanently impaired.

I remember one meeting I observed when the CEO sat with arms folded, with a laptop (a barrier as no other directors had a laptop), and was interrupting directors, in an almost antagonistic way. My debrief with the board chair was that there was agreement among directors that they are left with a sense they are not being told everything. I developed a coaching program with the CEO based on improved board-CEO relations, proper disclosure and information flow, and improved body language and technique for board meetings. I also recommended adjusting the CEO’s compensation to include, among other factors, improved board-CEO relations. This worked in the short term, but the CEO still was not trusted by the board and was replaced.

(ii)      CEO-C-Suite trust

Second, trust is important between the CEO and C-Suite. If the CEO is not trusted by the troops, they cannot lead. The board should know what the views are of the CEO by direct reports. In a board review I undertook recently, I canvassed the views of all direct reports to the CEO, otherwise known as a “360 review.” I recommended to the independent Chair that all directors see these views. The C-Suite also had opportunity to express views on the directors and where they could improve, which was very helpful (and eye-opening) to directors. The directors had opportunity to express views on the CEO. What ultimately occurred was dissatisfaction by the C-Suite in the CEO and specifically a lack of trust. The CEO was replaced by the board soon after.

(iii)     Director-Director trust

Third, trust is also important between and among directors. Directors need to trust each other that each director will support board decisions once they occur, will respect confidentiality, will be consistent and honest in what they say and do, and will act only in the best interests of the company. If a director or chair acts out of self-interest, directors will not work as a coherent team. Issues will be avoided because of undue influence, entrenchment and self-gain.

I conducted a peer review recently (directors assessing each other) and it was apparent that one director had integrity concerns by many others. I convened a meeting with the board chair and governance committee chair. Without breaching confidence, I advised of this gap and ultimately the director who had the low integrity rankings was asked to resign.

So building an effective board takes a key step: “Integrity” is an important attribute in directors and officers and contributes to trustworthiness and “doing the right thing” in the interests of the company.

Integrity is so important that it should be recruited for, developed, and assessed. Don’t avoid assessing and having internal controls over integrity. It can be done. And if a director or manager doesn’t possess integrity, they need to go. In the words of Warren Buffet:

In looking for someone to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. But the most important is integrity, because if they don’t have that, the other two qualities, intelligence and energy, are going to kill you.

Recruit directors and officers with the utmost integrity and replace those who do not have it. Your board will be better for it.

« Older Entries

Back to top