We have surveyed small and mid-sized quoted companies and their advisor firms to find out a raft of information on Non-Executive Directors (NEDs).
Covered in relation to NEDs in this report are eight sections:
- Salaries
- Working hours
- Knowledge, skills & experience
- Independence
- Positions
- Value for money
- Board evaluations
- Recruitment
Notable findings from the report include:
- An apparent disparity in perceived independence of NEDs between corporates and advisors. Whereas companies strongly believe in the independence of their NEDs, their advisory firms tend to be a lot more questioning about this.
- The average age of a small/mid-sized company NED is 60 years old, with an 81% chance they will be male. Our findings also show that Cyber/IT are the most lacked skills on small and mid-cap boards – does this reflect the age demographics?
- An increased recognition of the need for (and benefits of) external board evaluations. Companies are conducting board evaluations more frequently than in previous waves of this survey and an increasing proportion are using independent external consultants for this.
