Balanced Scorecard Helps Organizations Improve Corporate Governance
"Directors and executives have separate but complementary roles in promoting well governed high performing organizations...
Roles of the Board of Directors
An active and engaged board is an essential part of shaping and executing a successful strategy. Boards contribute to organizational performance when they fulfill five major responsibilities:
-The Board approves the strategic direction of an enterprise.
-The Board oversees the financial actions of an organization.
-The Board plays an essential role in counseling and advising the CEO.
-The Board selects and motivates executives.
-Finally, the Board is a watchdog for uncompensated risk and a guardian for compliance.
Roles of the CEO
The CEO's responsibility to manage the company is distinct but complementary to the board's oversight responsibility. The CEO is the senior most management team leader and as such, he or she is accountable to the board for corporate performance. Four major CEO responsibilities contribute to organizational performance include:
-The CEO and the executive team must define and communicate the strategy.
-The CEO must fund the strategy and manage financial resources.
-The CEO must align the workforce to the strategy.
-The CEO must manage the execution of strategy...
When supported by cohesive information architecture as described [in this article from BetterManagement.com], the three-part Balanced Scorecard based system outlined in this paper offers a modern set of tools that enable leaders to better fulfill their distinct roles. As such, directors and executives achieve greater visibility and control of their organizations. They also have the information they need to make better decisions and they have the information safeguards to offer more reliable disclosures with confidence. This tools based approach provides corporate leaders with insight, alignment and confidence to effectively govern and grow shareholder value."
