Governance
Governance
GOVERNANCE
DWS provide a range of governance services for clients in the hospitality, gaming and leisure sectors. These services include:
We have over 28 years consulting experience relating to our governance services and have developed highly effective techniques that assist with the successful operation of businesses.
Our governance projects regularly include clubs, taverns, casinos and sporting associations. Each year, DWS complete numerous consulting assignments which has allowed for extensive exposure to the often-complex structure of club environments. This ideally places DWS to assist with strategic planning and corporate governance initiatives on all levels. Recent governance projects that have been undertaken by DWS include:
- Annual strategic planning undertaken for many major clubs and venues across Australia.
- Corporate governance training undertaken for the boards of licenced and unlicenced entities.
- Constitutional amendments proposed and adopted by major Australian associations.
- Board reporting at management and board level incorporating key performance indicators developed for a range of hospitality businesses.
DWS has extensive exposure to the structure of club environments and is ideally placed to assist with strategic planning and corporate governance initiatives. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss these needs further with the strictest of confidence.
STRATEGIC PLANNING
Most Important Task
Boards and business leaders must do many things on a day-to-day basis. But developing a strategic plan is the most important task for any board and CEO. Most significant and complex businesses find value in using the services of an independent facilitator. DWS has facilitators, each with specialist skills and experience to draw out the very best from the strategic planning forum.
DWS has a range of planning options, from a one day “fast plan” to a more extensive and complete two-day planning process. The elements of the plan include:
- Definition of the mission and vision for the operation
- Determining the values and culture
- Reviewing sector best practice and trends
- Undertaking and assessing surveys of the directors
- Undertaking demographic, competitor and SWOT analyses
- Review of financial and operational performance to determine capital and borrowing capacity
- Definition of the key business advantages, critical issues and future needs
- Develop formal action plans
- Ascertain review processes
DWS strategic planning consultants work alongside key stakeholders to define the vision, adopt a unified direction, assist to develop strategies and increase accountability to enable orientated results to be achieved in a dedicated time frame. All strategic planning programs are customised to suit the individual needs of the client. We are happy to provide a formal proposal or simply sit down and discuss the process with you.
GOVERNANCE TRAINING
Independent assessment, Training
Boards and committees in hospitality operations confronted by complex issues and potential conflict situations require decisions to be made. Through regular independent assessment, training and structured policies and procedures, an organisation can ensure that its governing entity acts appropriately and in the best interests of the shareholders, staff and members. Key corporate governance services offered by DWS include:
- Tailored corporate governance training.
- New director inductions.
- Refresher corporate governance training.
Primary elements of our corporate governance programs include:
- Ethical responsibilities of board and committee members as well as board standards.
- Management instruction and responsibilities.
- Regulatory responsibilities involving memorandum and articles of association.
- Legal responsibilities incorporating contracts, duty of care, limited liability and board policies.
DWS can offer a customised corporate governance training program involving classroom-style facilitation with industry experienced hospitality consultants. Programs can be designed for a complete workshop for new members, as a refresher course for existing members or to address specific concerns of the committee or board. Workshops are generally conducted over one full day and are best facilitated off premises.
CONSTITUTION DEVELOPMENT
Our Involvement
Through our involvement with strategic planning and corporate governance, DWS highlight areas of the constitution of associations that warrant attention and ultimately need amending. It is our experience that key elements of constitution development include:
- The size and composition of committees and boards.
- Appropriate rotation of members.
- Election and appointment of board/committee members.
- Voting rights of various class of membership.
- Succession planning for boards and committees.
The extensive exposure of DWS to these complex issues over a significant period has allowed us to identify successful solutions and draft amendments for the best outcome for hospitality organisations.
BOARD REPORTING
Provision of Appropriate Information
DWS are fully versed in the provision of appropriate information to the right stakeholders. Following corporate governance sessions, it is often identified that appropriate information is not presented by management to the board or committee. Reasons for this includes poor access to the right templates and lack of sufficient reporting by the property management system. Key aspects of our board reporting development includes:
- Conduct an audit of current board and committee report mechanisms.
- Identify appropriate outputs from the property management system.
- Develop a standardised template that can be adopted by management to extrapolate relevant information from the property management system.
- Design outputs from the template that incorporate both management and board level information.
- Incorporate budgets and/or industry benchmarks to derive key performance indicators.
- Ensure areas of operational risk are identified.
DWS combine a range of skills that include specific exposure to the hospitality sector to derive the relevant information as well as strong financial modelling skills in order to produce a template that is operable by management.
Please contact us by clicking the link above, or email at marketing@dws.net.au to request a quote for your upcoming project.
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