Board documents form the foundation of every organization, regardless of whether it’s a charity, community or organisation. They provide the structure and governance of the organisation. Without these documents, there would be no guidelines regarding how to act and there would be no accountability for the company. They are not only necessary to ensure that the board meets its fiduciary obligations as well as provide transparency and accountability for stakeholders.
It is vital to have the proper documents on hand prior to the board of directors meeting. This will facilitate an efficient discussion and ensure that all board members are prepared. This can only happen if the information is presented in a concise, clear and complete way.
The most important documents for boards include annual agendas, reports financial reports, and board resolutions that outline. The organization that is responsible for them they are either made public, or kept confidential. But, they all provide information about the direction and progress of an organization to its stakeholders.
Another crucial document that is often overlooked are the board policies which set out guidelines and standards for how boards should work. They could include self-evaluation guidelines, board-staff relationship policy, the policy on volunteers or financial management practices.
The use of board documents in an electronic board book, like a BoardWorks portal, is increasingly being used by companies and can help cut costs associated with printing, binding and mailing director’s files on paper. Furthermore the platforms enable better communication between directors during meetings because they can find and access navigate to this board software documents quickly from the platform.