Administrators want limits to what number of boards they sit on. Stretching their time too thinly is dangerous

Skilled administrators of corporations are in excessive demand in nations all over the world. For that reason, many hold multiple directorships.

There’s an upside to this. Administrators with a number of directorships are in a position to achieve extra data, expertise and entry to social networks and assets, thus including extra worth to the corporate.

However there’s additionally a draw back. When administrators sit on too many firm boards they could develop into what’s known as ‘overboarded’.

When administrators serve on an extreme variety of boards, they run the chance of not having the time or capability to contribute successfully to the work of every board.

Final yr, shareholders voted towards the re-election of Twitter director Egon Durban as a result of they thought he held too many board seats. He was a director on seven public firm boards on the time. Twitter kept him on after he agreed to reduce his board seats to 5. Durban misplaced his board place in any occasion after Elon Musk took over the corporate and dissolved the board a couple of months later.

Overboardedness needs to be assessed on a case-by-case foundation. It’s because administrators’ expertise, capabilities, data and dedication varies from one particular person to a different. However there needs to be some limits to the variety of boards a director serves as a result of if they’re overextended they put themselves and the businesses they serve in danger.

The issue with overboarding

An organization’s enterprise and affairs are managed by its board of directors.

Administrators are fiduciaries to their firm. This implies they need to act in good faith, with honesty and loyalty, and within the company’s best interests. They have to not put themselves able the place their private pursuits battle with their duties to the corporate. The effectiveness of the board is vital to an organization’s success.

The duty of boards worldwide has elevated considerably in recent times. Some causes for this are growing shareholder activism and extra corporate governance in addition to regulatory necessities. As well as, there’s the escalating want for cybersecurity in addition to a global energy crisis which is destabilising corporations.

The problem with serving on too many boards is that administrators can’t attend adequate board conferences or correctly oversee the boards they serve. This carries dangers for the board member and the corporate.

If administrators breach their fiduciary duties, they are often held personally liable for loss suffered by the corporate because of the breach. They can be declared delinquent, which in South Africa will disqualify them from holding workplace as a director for seven years or longer.

In the event that they neglect their duties, they are often eliminated by the board or shareholders.

These dangers are increased in public listed corporations, which demand far more from administrators.

Serving on too many boards may also trigger sophisticated conflicts of curiosity for administrators, particularly once they serve on the boards of competing corporations.

What number of board seats is simply too many?

Since board duties differ relying on the kind of firm, its measurement, and the complexity of the business, it’s troublesome to put a tough restrict on the variety of board seats that administrators might maintain.

For instance, an government director (a full-time director and worker of the corporate) with two extra directorships of listed corporations could also be overboarded, however an skilled non-executive director (a part-time director who will not be an worker of the corporate) of two listed corporations, a non-public firm and a non-profit firm, could possibly correctly fulfil his or her board duties simply.

Institutional traders have began paying nearer consideration to the variety of boards on which administrators serve. Within the US, institutional traders have opposed the election of administrators who serve on more than five boards. For instance, funding supervisor BlackRock just lately voted towards 163 directors at 149 companies on the idea of overboarding.

Within the UK, institutional traders regard a director holding more than five seats as overboarded, the place a place as a board chair counts as two seats and a place as an government director counts as three seats.

In developed markets, traders typically regard 4 or 5 directorships as the utmost variety of permissible directorships, however in markets the place a number of directorships are extra frequent the bounds are increased. For instance, the India Companies Act 2013 limits the variety of directorships to twenty, whereas the utmost variety of public firm directorships is capped at ten. However this quantity could also be decreased by the shareholders.

South Africa has no clear tips on the problem. It is a downside provided that it has a small pool of eligible board candidates with the required abilities, particularly in specialised industries.

The nation’s King IV Report on Corporate Governance recommends that potential non-executive administrators give the board particulars of their different board positions, and written statements confirming they’ve sufficient time to fulfil their board obligations.

What ought to boards do to keep away from overboarding?

Earlier than appointing a director, the board or its nomination committee, ought to think about the variety of different directorships held by the director on listed and unlisted corporations. It must also think about the director’s expertise and skill to handle his or her duties.

Boards should consider whether or not administrators serve on the boards of competing corporations and whether or not potential conflicts of pursuits may be correctly managed.

Clear disclosure is vital to creating certain that administrators aren’t overboarded. Administrators should disclose particulars of their different directorships and board committees on which they serve. Administrators must also disclose any new directorships they settle for throughout their tenure on the board.

Board evaluations ought to deal with whether or not particular person administrators are overboarded, in order that steps could also be taken to handle this. Firms must also devise their very own insurance policies on overboarding.

Lastly, earlier than accepting new appointments, administrators are suggested to rigorously think about their elevated danger of legal responsibility in the event that they neglect their duties attributable to being overextended. They need to keep away from accepting extra directorships than they’ll deal with.