Sarah Hillary
Partner, Risk Advisory Services, Corporate Governance Lead
An effective board is essential to business success, it builds trust, improves decision-making and helps the whole organisation navigate uncertainty. Boards operate in an increasingly complex regulatory and risk environment. Geopolitical volatility, economic and commercial pressures, regulatory change and stakeholder expectations all test even the most experienced leadership teams. It is in this context that boards are expected, and often mandated, to provide stronger oversight, sharper challenge and clearer strategic direction.
Below you will find a lot of information about us and how we work, about Board effectiveness reviews and the other services we provide to Boards. If you would like, or need, to address any challenges relating to how your board operates, we would like to explore how we can help you. Please complete an enquiry form and we will get in touch.
Some organisations are formally required to undertake periodic board reviews, for example FTSE 350 companies. Increasingly, mid-sized and smaller firms are proactively choosing to make the most of the tangible and long-lasting benefits of a board effectiveness review. Proactive board evaluations are now widely recognised as a hallmark of good governance for organisations of all sizes.
A board effectiveness review or evaluation illustrates a commitment to best practice and ongoing improvement, and an openness to change and responsiveness.
A board effectiveness review can help you:
- Clarify roles, responsibilities and accountability
- Strengthen board dynamics and constructive challenge
- Improve decision-making
- Align board composition with strategy and future needs
- Identify skills gaps and succession risks
- Enhance stakeholder and regulator confidence
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement
The outcome should be more than a report — it should be a stronger, more focused and more effective board.
We combine technical expertise in governance with real-world boardroom experience. Board reviews work best when they are rigorous, independent and practical.
You will benefit from:
- Working with a team of senior and experienced professionals who bring practical insight from working with boards in complex and regulated environments
- Our diverse skillsets, including a psychologist and behavioural expert to support assessments of board culture, behaviours and dynamics
- A proven, structured methodology that delivers clear, evidence-based and actionable recommendations
- A proportionate approach focused on adding value
- Independent advice that balances challenge with support
- A team accredited as board reviewers by the Chartered Governance Institute for the UK & Ireland
Our experience
We work with clients across industry sectors, and organisations from start-ups and scaling businesses through to large, complex and FTSE-listed companies. This breadth means we bring both cross-sector perspective and proportionality to every engagement.
Our broader experience includes:
- Clients ranging from scale ups and mid-market enterprises to global listed businesses across all key sectors of the UK economy including manufacturing, retail, healthcare, TMT and transport
- Government agencies, arm’s length bodies, independent regulators and organisations that manage public funds
- Charities and not for profit organisations including employee-owned businesses and membership bodies
- Financial services — working with highly regulated businesses in insurance, banking, wealth and asset management, payments and consumer credit
Our clients benefit from our proven board effectiveness model and structured methodology. We also understand that good governance is never one-size-fits-all and that your board must be tailored to your organisation.
Your organisation’s strategy, culture, maturity and challenges will shape the type of review that will be most useful. We tailor our review specifically to your situation and offer a range of review options – from lighter touch reviews to a comprehensive assessment. The result is a balanced, evidence-based view with clear, practical recommendations you can readily implement.
Our approach can include:
- Structured interviews with board and committee members
- Confidential board surveys to gather board member insights and those from other stakeholders
- Board and committee observations to assess behaviours and dynamics and operating effectiveness
- Governance documentation reviews to benchmark frameworks and processes
- Facilitated board workshops to align on priorities and action plans
Board effectiveness reviews are about how your board performs. Benchmarking is about demonstrating that your governance framework meets recognised standards and regulatory expectations.
If you are seeking independent assurance, preparing for regulatory scrutiny, or simply want confidence that your arrangements reflect best practice, we can assess your governance structures, processes and documentation against relevant codes and guidance. Whether you need light-touch benchmarking or a detailed review, we tailor the scope to your organisation and regulatory environment.
Our benchmarking reviews can include alignment with:
- UK Corporate Governance Code 2024
- Quoted Companies Alliance Corporate Governance Code
- The Wates Corporate Governance Principles for large private companies
- FRC guidance on board effectiveness (2018)
- Charity Governance Code
- Companies Act 2006 & UK Stewardship Code
- IOD Code of Conduct for Directors
- Corporate Governance in Central Government Departments
- Code of good practice, HM Treasury and Cabinet Office Guidance (Chapter 4)
- Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) regulatory requirements and supervisory expectations.
Board effectiveness doesn’t begin and end with a review. We can work with your board as a long-term partner to capability and resilience. We provide:
- Annual board appraisals – lighter-touch self-evaluations between mandatory reviews to monitor progress, reinforce good practice and embed continuous improvement
- Board skills and capabilities assessments – identifying strengths, gaps and development needs at both individual and collective level
- Board training – targeted, practical sessions to strengthen knowledge, oversight and confidence in key governance and risk areas
- Facilitated workshops – interactive sessions to align the Board on priorities, strategy and ways of working
- Succession planning – structured approaches to ensure continuity, diversity and future-ready leadership
- Broader governance reviews – evaluating governance frameworks, committee structures and oversight models
- Governance policy support – drafting, refreshing and embedding fit-for-purpose governance policies and terms of reference
- Management Information (MI) review and development support – enhancing (MI) to improve clarity, oversight and decision-making
- Culture – helping boards assess, measure and strengthen cultural governance
Our exclusive Company Secretariat (CoSec) Community has been designed in recognition of the challenging, multifaceted, and critical role that CoSecs play in championing effective governance. Bringing CoSecs, and aspiring CoSecs, together to connect, learn, and exchange insights and good practices.
We adhere to the Code of Practice for Board Reviewers.
Competence and Capacity
We ensure our reviewers have the necessary expertise and experience for each engagement. Our team is made up of senior professionals with direct experience in evaluating and assessing board practices and governance arrangements. We only accept work we are qualified to perform and capable of delivering successfully. We will provide information about our reviewers' experience and approach to ensure transparency and confidence in our capabilities before any engagement.
Independence and Integrity
We take independence and integrity seriously. As a firm that is regulated by the ICAEW, we meet the requirements established within the ICAEW Code of Ethics. We understand that maintaining independence and integrity when conducting board effectiveness reviews is crucial to ensuring that boards operate efficiently and transparently. To achieve this, we follow a clear and structured approach.
Firstly, we maintain independence by ensuring that our review team is free from any conflicts of interest. We select team members who have no prior connections with the board being reviewed. This guarantees that our findings are unbiased and based solely on the evidence we gather.
Secondly, integrity is at the heart of our process. We adhere to strict ethical standards and guidelines throughout the review. Our team is committed to delivering honest and accurate assessments, providing you with a clear picture of your board's effectiveness.
Finally, we engage in open communication with you. We believe in transparency, so we keep you informed at every stage of the review. This ensures that you understand our methods and findings, allowing you to trust the results and make informed decisions for your board's future.
Client Engagements
Before commencing any board review, we agree the terms of engagement clearly and in writing. This includes the scope of the review, requirements for access to individuals and resources, and the process for reporting findings. We maintain strict confidentiality of all information received during the engagement, noting that we have obligations to share information in cases of unlawful practices or when demanded by legal and regulatory requirements.
Client Disclosure
If clients wish to disclose details or outcomes of the review process, we will ensure we have the opportunity to agree, and comment on, any descriptions or opinions attributed to us before publication. This is covered in our terms of engagement.
We adhere to these standards in order to help us deliver a high standard of service to our clients.
