This Q&A with Daniel Sunderland discusses the job of the corporate director from his perspective as Chief Auditor at Deloitte. He touches on topics like the influence of the external auditor in the job of the corporate director and the definition of tone at the top.

The recommendations in the NACD’s Blue Ribbon Commission report on board oversight of disruptive risks are relevant and should be considered a “must-read.” Unfortunately, what it doesn’t say as bluntly and strongly as it needs to say it is that the information many boards receive today from senior management isn’t what’s required to meet these new expectations.

Boards are expected to be more alert and foresighted. They must be prepared for more rapid situational assessment, faster reaction time and creative solutions for creating value and representing shareholders’ interests.

Institutional investors should always be in a position of making an informed vote, whether or not a proxy advisor can help in making them informed.

During the last three months, the Governance Center released four pieces of research that cover CEO and executive compensation practices, CEO succession practices, the Delaware bench and bar perspectives on the job description of a corporate director, and an analysis of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations.

While political control of Congress in 2019 is unknown two weeks before Election Day, what is known is the number of S&P 500 companies receiving high scores for political disclosure and accountability continues to increase. That is a major finding of the 2018 CPA-Zicklin Index.

Seven CEOs of companies that are members of The Conference Board Governance Center are among 20 who have signed on to the Commonsense Corporate Governance Principles 2.0, which has been endorsed by the Governance Center and the Business Roundtable and will be hosted by the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School.

The authors of the book “Outsourcing the Board: How Board Service Providers Can Improve Corporate Governance” recently sat down with Governance Center Executive Director Doug Chia to discuss their unique idea for a new corporate board model. A video of that discussion is available on-demand.