CfA - Business & Administration Governance Standards

The CfA has developed a suite of generic standards that enables every Governing Body to identify how it can meet the standards appropriate to its sector. This project develops the CfA’s portfolio of standards and builds upon previous work carried out in partnership with strategic administrators and company secretaries.

The field of governance has emerged in recent years as a matter of great importance and fits squarely with the CfA’s programme of skills development. There is a clear need for a generic statement of the personal attributes and performance standards required of the executive and non-executive directors who lead organisations.

Major developments in the application of governance methodologies are now being seen in public and private companies. As a result of this growth, there is a need for people to take on the roles and develop the capabilities of directors. However, the information to support governance is widely scattered across the sectors in vastly differing forms.

The CfA Governance Standards have been designed to describe what governing bodies of organisations are expected to do and provide criteria by which chairs and directors can assess whether they are performing in line with these standards.

In addition, the CfA Governance Standards describe the personal qualities and the underpinning knowledge and understanding that directors need to have in order to perform effectively. The standards contribute in two ways as they enable:

	Practising directors to identify their own areas of capability, together with any areas for development
	Aspiring directors to identify those areas they may need to develop before submitting themselves for possible selection.