By Meriba Tulo – EMTV News, Port Moresby
Shareholders now expect increased accountability, transparency and efficiency from Board Directors, as part of the evolving worldwide business culture.
And as such, Directors in Papua New Guinea must be able to meet these demanding challenges.
This was the message put forward during a recent Awards ceremony by the PNG Institute of Directors.
Directors from all across various sectors gathered recently for the annual PNGID Awards Night, to recognize the outstanding achievements of Directors in 2017.
Oil Search Chairman, Rick Lee, addressed the event, highlighting the high standards now expected of Directors.
According to Mr. Lee, shareholders had moved on from just looking at financial performances.
“Long gone are the days when a board’s primary role was simply to maximize profits of a particular enterprise and oversee reinvestment and/or oversee distribution of dividends to shareholders.”
“Time frames are important, but market participants and commentators vary greatly in their time horizons and directors as always, must understand these various perspectives and ultimately exercise wisdom and judgment in their decision making,” said Mr. Lee.
Given the increasing workload expected from Directors in Papua New Guinea, the PNGID is working with the University of Papua New Guinea to develop a course that sets minimum benchmarks for aspiring Directors.
According to PNGID President, Anthony Yauieb, this course is expected to be launched in 2019.
“In the first instance, we wanna establish a competency framework that can guide directors about the skills, knowledge, and capabilities they should seek to acquire and develop different stages of their careers as directors.”
“This has started in earnest, with the current training program we offer, and a planned launch of the graduate diploma in Corporate Governance by the University of Papua New Guinea, at the beginning of next year,” said the PNGID President, Anthony Yauieb.
Furthermore, the PNGID is also finalising legislation to make it a statutory organization, similar to that of accountants, and lawyers – this is to ensure that high standards are maintained.
“We’ll continue to pursue the other strategic projects that previous boards have commenced, not only the Director’s Pipeline Project but also the PNGID Legislation Project, to establish PNGID as a statutory body and to build a database of our membership”
“To allow a matching of Directors with boards, according to criteria that is important to this companies.”
Also on the night, several awards were given, recognizing outstanding Director performances in 2017; Charles Lee was awarded Young Director of the Year, Female Director of the Year Award went to Faye-Zina Lalo and Peter Aitsi took out the best Male Director for 2017.
Bank South Pacific received the Award for Best Annual Report for the second year in a row, with Kina Bank being awarded the Innovative Company of the Year Award for its services to the banking sector in 2017.
