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INFORMATION AND THE BOARDparticularly those working in risk management, internal audit or compliancefunctions. This can be achieved without undermining management throughsystematic use of committees – at least in large organisations, where resourcesare available. Committees enable a wider range of people to contribute. At BP, forexample, we consider it good practice now for internal auditors to come along toboth the internal audit committee meetings and the corporate responsibilitycommittee meetings. We also bring in compliance officers, safety experts orwhoever else is thought necessary to discharge the committee’s duties.The committee system enables separate groups of directors to get into thenext level of detail down, to make sure that internal controls are working andthat risks are being properly managed – and they report back to the board. It alsofrees up the board to do what it ought to be doing, which is acting strategically.IDENTIFYING EXTERNAL SOURCES OF INFORMATIONDepending on the nature of the risk, it may be wise to supplement internalperspectives with external views – to avoid the danger of relying exclusively onmanagement information. Most obviously, the audit firm and legal firm will beable to talk about compliance and regulatory risk. If there is a concern about, say,geopolitical risk, advice may be sought from appropriate authorities or experts.Such external views are important and are part of a matrix of information thatgets put together to decide whether a particular risk is worth taking.One shouldn’t forget, of course, that the NEDs themselves are an externalsource of information about risk. There is a need for the board and the chairmanto make sure that the skills around the board table are used effectively tochallenge and support management to deliver its strategy.INFORMATION OVERLOADLooking to the future, companies and society generate ever more information,which presents a number of different challenges in terms of quality, quantity,relevance, timeliness, and even delivery (should the board have ipads or shouldboard papers be uploaded to an ‘e-room’?). Most of these challenges can becontrolled, but it requires discipline – and a clear understanding between thechairman and chief executive as to how they want matters to be dealt with.65