INED Essentials Training M4: "Board Committee Essentials for INEDs"

The forth module of INED Essentials Training was successfully held on 12 Mar 2020.

As the chairman of the Training & Accreditation Committee, Dr. Lawrence Wong helped in the design of the Training Program. At first, Dr. Lawrence Wong explained the overall design of the training program and then introduced the speaker, Mr. Anthony Cheung.

Mr. Anthony Cheung has extensive experience about serving as an INED and interesting insight of corporate governance. He pointed that Board of Directors take the responsibility of overall development of corporates. They are also in charge of the internal resource allocations and ensure the action of directors and companies are transparent and accountable.

In corporate governance, in terms of responsibilities, board committees can be divided into four parts, namely audit committees, remuneration committees, nomination committees and governance committees. The first two should be chaired by INED.

For the responsibilities of INED in the board committees, Mr. Cheung pointed that:

• The number of INED in board committees and each divided committees are regulated by listing rules.

• The audit committees play vital roles in corporate governance. They should ensure the internal finance audit under the statement and build relationships with outside auditors.

• Formal and transparent remuneration policy can help corporate attract and obtain talented persons. The remuneration committees should take sufficient references in to account

• The majority of nomination committees is INEDs. They take responsibility of assessing and optimising composition of board committees.

• Corporate governance committees are appointed by board. They are in charge of evaluate the corporate governance policy and practice. They also evaluate the risk management and internal control systems to make sure their efficiency.

Mr. Cheung also explained the guideline of HKICPA, Corporate governance code and Listing Rules of HKEX to help learning partners understand how the conduct the right of board committees efficiency.

The program leader Dr. Lawrence Wong also shared his opinions which help participants better understand the responsibilities and challenges for INEDs.