Is the board being trained?

Director involvement

Is the board
being trained?Director involvement

Does your company’s employee compliance training program include board members?

Our survey finds that board directors at fewer than half (46 percent) of the companies surveyed participate in employee compliance training programs. Around the same number (43 percent) say their programs do not include directors, and 11 percent say they don’t know.The proportion of respondents reporting that their board is included in the compliance training program is broadly consistent across companies of different sizes: 44 percent at small caps, 45 percent at mid-caps, 41 percent at large caps and 50 percent at mega-cap companies.Fewer respondents at US companies (35 percent) say their board is included than do those in Canada (53 percent) and Europe (50 percent).CommentsAsked what board members are trained on, respondents point to a wide variety of topics:

‘They are required to complete annual mandated training sessions, like any other employee’ – US, mega-cap

‘Code of ethics, anti-corruption, fraud, and so on’ – US, small cap

‘Director duties, as well as reading/acknowledging company business conduct guidelines and other policies’ – US, small cap

‘Cyber-security, code of conduct, orientation and financial literacy for Crown corporation directors’ – Canada, small cap

‘Besides those previously mentioned, the board receives regular updates on any changes to the regulatory environment, corporate governance matters and ESG’ – Europe, mid-cap

‘It varies from year to year: the board rotates taking compliance modules on insider trading, FCPA, cyber-security, and so on’ – US, large cap

‘Compliance, key regulatory requirements, corporate governance-related, and so on’ – US, large cap

‘Various, ranging from corporate governance and operational issues to risk and regulation’ – Europe, small cap

‘Bribery, anti-corruption, code of conduct’ – Canada, small cap

‘Anti-corruption and bribery’ – Asia, small cap

‘Their duties and liabilities mainly’ – Asia, mid-cap

‘Code of conduct, anti-money laundering, privacy’ – Canada, small cap

‘Risk management, new laws and regulations’ – Asia, mid-cap

‘Conflicts of interest and insider trading’ – US, large cap