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Responsibilities of the Board of Directors

  
  
  

Yesterday we started discussing . Today we are going to take a look at the primary responsibilities of the Board of Directors. The primary responsibility of the Board of Directors is growing shareholder value. Advising the CEO and succession planning are two other key responsibilities.

Legally, the Board has a lot of discretion, but must act with:

  • Due care ("Duty of care")
  • Loyalty to the corporation ("Duty of loyalty")
  • Good faith

According to the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), boards have some or all of the following responsibilities as a matter of best practice:

  • Officers/Management - selecting, monitoring, evaluating, compensating, and—if necessary—replacing the CEO and other senior executives, and ensuring management succession

  • Strategic Direction:
    • approving a corporate philosophy and mission
    • reviewing and approving management's strategic and business plans, including developing a depth of knowledge of the business being served, understanding and questioning the assumptions upon which such plans are based, and reaching an independent judgment as to the probability that the plans can be realized (referred to as "constructive engagement" in strategy)

  • Financial plans and results:
    • reviewing and approving the corporation's financial objectives, plans, and actions, including significant capital allocations and expenditures
    • monitoring corporate performance against the strategic and business plans, including overseeing the operating results on a regular basis to evaluate whether the business is being properly managed

  • Strategic Decisions:
    • reviewing and approving transactions not in the ordinary course of business (if the transaction would cause the disappearance of the corporation or the sale of all its assets, then on the board can make this decision; it may not be delegated to a committee or to management)

  • Risk Management - ensuring that the corporation has in place systems to encourage and enable ethical behavior and compliance with laws and regulations, auditing and accounting principles, and the corporation's own governing documents

  • Corporate Governance:
    • assessing its own effectiveness in fulfilling these and other board responsibilities (subject to minimum statutory requirements such as quorum requirements for meetings under state corporation law), and
    • performing such other functions as are prescribed by law, or assigned to the board in the corporation's governing documents

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2012 IRS Pension Plan Limits

401(k) Deferral Limit - $17,000

Annual Additions Limit - $50,000

Maximum Compensation Limit - $250,000

Catch-Up Contribution Limit - $5,500

Highly Compensated Employee - $115,000

ESOP 5-Year Distribution Threshold - $1,015,000

ESOP Additional Year Threshold - $200,000

2012 Pension Plan Limits

1989 - 2012 Plan Limits