Chair’s report

Monday, 01 November 2021

John Atkin FAICD photo
John Atkin FAICD
Chair, Australian Institute of Company Directors
    Current

    While individuals, organisations and the nation continued to grapple with the significant difficulties brought on by the pandemic, these circumstances also have encouraged many Australians to innovate and create, writes AICD chair John Atkin FAICD. Below is an edited extract of his Chair’s Report.


    While individuals, organisations and the nation continued to grapple with the significant difficulties brought on by the pandemic, these circumstances also have encouraged many Australians to innovate and create, writes AICD chair John Atkin FAICD. Below is an edited extract of his Chair’s Report.

    The AICD has adapted to these challenging times, embracing new technologies and fresh means of delivering services. Members have been supported through an accelerated number of online education courses and governance resources delivered across an expanding number of platforms.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us repeatedly of the critical importance of good governance. In times of crisis, it is crucial for governments, companies and organisations to have sufficient oversight of their communities — and the suitable protocols and procedures in place — to lead the transformational recovery.

    The AICD is stronger for its engagement with the entire governance community. Most of our services continue to be accessible to all directors and boards, extending our educative purpose beyond only our members. We regularly make our resources and tools publicly available, both on our website and to our significant social media audience.

    In the 2021 financial year, we partnered with complementary organisations on guides to contemporary governance practice, including: Governance through a crisis: Learning from COVID-19 (joint research with the Governance Institute of Australia), Governing company culture: Insights from Australian directors (joint guidance with the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors), and Update on AGMs, electronic document execution and digital shareholder communications (joint guidance with the Australasian Investor Relations Association, the Law Council of Australia and the Governance Institute).

    The AICD is stronger for its engagement with the entire governance community.

    COVID-19 significantly impacted AICD operations throughout the year. Due to restrictions introduced by state governments at various times, the AICD paused delivery of face-to-face education programs and events, and closed member lounges. We are proud that we were able to support our community effectively by accelerating our pre-COVID-19 digital transformation to deliver formats complementary to our face-to-face and experiential learning.

    We developed an online version of the Company Directors Course and Foundations of Directorship program to provide members with greater learning flexibility. As with all our courses, these online programs were available to all members of the public. We also expanded our member resources and introduced a portfolio of complementary, self-paced online micro courses focusing on supporting directors to navigate the uncertainties of the pandemic.

    We continued to provide targeted support for directors on the rapidly changing regulatory landscape, including regular briefings and timely COVID-19-related guidance. Our strong advocacy on director issues was also accelerated, successfully delivering regulatory relief in a number of areas, including insolvent trading, financial reporting and virtual AGMs.

    During the 2021 financial year, the board reaffirmed our mission as the independent and trusted voice of governance, building the capability of a community of leaders for the benefit of society. This delivered a strategic vision for the AICD to be the leading global platform providing all members with a voice, a community and the capabilities they need across their lifetimes as directors.

    The AICD’s core purpose is to strengthen society through world-class governance and we are dedicated to ensuring we lead by example in how our own organisation is governed. This year, we commenced a review of our constitution, bylaws and the charters for division councils, and have been re-examining how the national board, division councils and AICD management team interact.

    The proposed revised constitution will not alter the basic structure of the AICD, the relationship between the national board and the division councils, or the processes for the appointment of directors. It does modernise the AICD’s governance framework, ensuring it remains fit-for-purpose and reflects best practice. The proposed revised constitution is presented to members for adoption by way of special resolution at our AGM on 17 November.

    AICD board 2021

    This has been another year of dramatic change for Australia and the world. We must ensure our boards have the necessary skills and expertise to govern their organisations effectively in our transforming world. What was effective in the past may not be sufficient for the challenges of tomorrow. The AICD will continue to work with our members and the broader governance community to ensure we are adequately equipped to grapple with these challenges and capture future opportunities.

    Strategic direction

    The AICD’s strategy is to:

    • Set the benchmark in governance insight and education
    • Deliver products and services that target member and client needs and build capability
    • Create platforms that engage Australia’s largest and most diverse community of directors

    In this year disrupted by COVID-19, our strategy continued to perform strongly. We advocated for timely regulatory relief for directors, developed our offerings in line with demand and uplifted our capability in digital.

    We set the benchmark in governance by providing timely, targeted regulatory support for directors, including regular briefings on relief priorities, substantive COVID- 19-related guidance and strong advocacy on director issues from the impact of the pandemic.

    To meet member and client needs we developed the Company Directors Course Online and Foundations of Directorship Online program to provide members with greater learning flexibility.

    As Australia’s largest and most diverse community of directors, we uplifted our digital capability enabling us to rapidly pivot our operations while continuing to deliver value — for example, by delivering the Essential Director Update event complimentary to more than 6100 members across Australia online and in-person.

    Underpinning our strategy is our One Team culture, in which we value the good for the whole over the good for the individual.

    In FY21, the board developed our FY27 strategic vision for the AICD to be the leading global platform that provides all members a voice, a community and the capabilities they need across their lifetimes as directors. The emphasis in this strategic vision is on extending our horizon and expanding our impact.


    Members & Clients

    Despite the uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, annual membership grew by 2.6 per cent in FY21.

    Membership with the AICD continues to represent an engagement with the board community, a powerful investment in professional development and a commitment to excellence in governance.

    Our membership’s gender diversity continues to grow gradually, with a 1.3 per cent increase in the proportion of female members.

    The proportion of members from the private sector grew only slightly to 44 per cent, and this continues to represent our largest sector. Our other three sectors also remained broadly consistent with FY20 — not-for- profit at 21 per cent, public at 14 per cent and listed at 13 per cent.

    The average tenure of our membership has increased slightly to 7.6 years. Our largest age group is 50–59 years, representing 36 per cent of our membership. Our graduate members (GAICD) represent 43 per cent of our total membership.

    Building capability

    We continued to provide our portfolio of member and client services across a range of delivery approaches — onsite at our AICD premises across the country, in-house at client locations, virtually and online.

    This portfolio draws from our signature programs, networking events, online and e-learning courses, webinars, director resources — such as our globally distributed Company Director magazine — and our Business Centre and Member lounges across Australia.

    Read the full Annual Review.

    Latest news

    This is of of your complimentary pieces of content

    This is exclusive content.

    You have reached your limit for guest contents. The content you are trying to access is exclusive for AICD members. Please become a member for unlimited access.