Corporate Governance for State and Public Sector Bodies

Course description

Public bodies and many other organisations in receipt of public support must insure that their corporate governance frameworks are of a best practice standard and that they are in compliance with specified corporate governance codes. This course will give insights into the principles on which codes are based, provide an overview of the key issues for the different stakeholders and discuss the implications of how governance practices can be assessed.

The course will provide a valuable introduction for staff, senior management and members of boards/governing bodies on the implications, and the benefits, which arise from good governance. It will look at the different sides of reporting governance – whether as an Agency reporting or the assessment responsibilities of a Government Department. In dealing with case examples the experienced tutors will facilitate an interactive approach with the intention of discussing particular contexts of most relevance to participants.

The most widely applied code to public bodies is the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies which was updated in 2016.  This course pays particular attention to the key topics in that Code while referring to sectoral examples where differences may apply.

The course has been modified for online delivery and will be delivered over two x two hour sessions.  It will cover the following areas:

• The principles of good governance (similarities and differences with the private sector, Guidelines and documentation, the ‘hot topics’ in the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies 2016)
• The role of a Board/ Top Management (Effective processes, Who is responsible for what?, receiving assurance, the Audit Committee Process, External Auditor, Internal Audit)
• Reporting and Stakeholder Relationships (Relationships between Departments and State Bodies, Deciding the level of detail required, Statement of internal financial controls, Contents of an external assessment)

This course has been modified for online delivery and is now a four-hour online course that will be divided into two x two-hour sessions (10:00 am-12:00 noon & 1:00 pm-3:00 pm) with a one-hour break. It will be remotely delivered through MS Teams and facilitated by subject matter experts.

Scheduled Dates* include:

• 9 February 2023
• 18 May 2023
• 7 September 2023
• 30 November 2023

* Dates may be subject to change.