03/04/2006
During the past year or so, we have noticed a significant rise in the interest of directors in determining a fair and equitable approach to the setting of fees for participation on subsidiary boards. Subsidiary boards take a variety of forms, ranging from special purpose or single transaction entities having directors drawn from management within the relevant business unit of the organisation, to vehicles fulfilling compliance functions and staffed by fully independent directors, to very active and “operational” entities such as superannuation trustee boards.
There is unquestionably a substantial time commitment involved in participation on some of these boards, and many companies are coming to the conclusion that it is no longer adequate to view the role of subsidiary company director as just a minor function of the main board role.