The role of the board in the Post Office scandal highlights a systemic governance issue that deserves deeper investigation (“Grandees who let barrage continue to the bitter end”, Report, January 15).
The corporate board structure has been widely adopted in government and the public sector, apparently without much thought about whether this is an appropriate governance mechanism for such organisations.
The limitations of corporate governance may have been perpetuated in this replication, in particular with regard to the role of independent non-executive directors. Recurring financial scandals suggest that they struggle to exercise effective oversight. Meeting the monitoring expectations of their role may be even more challenging within more complex accountability frameworks.
More positively, it is possible that the role may have been successfully adapted to these different contexts, in which case the corporate sector may have something to learn.
Laura F Spira
Emeritus Professor of Corporate Governance, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK
