Corporate Governance and Policies at HostPlus and NAB

ACCOUNTING THEORY AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 1
ACCOUNTING THEORY AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
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ACCOUNTING THEORY AND CASE STUDY
2
Part A
Corporate governance and policies
The Host-Plus has been portrayed as the trustee for the Hostplus Superannuation Fund
that is governed by the Trustee Board. The company’s Board represents the interest of its
members concerning the company’s Trust Deed and superannuation law. This is to ensure that
Hostplus anticipates the requirements stipulated by the Federal Government to ensure fair and
safe operation of the scheme. The Board is tasked with the overall governance and strategic
vision of the Fund aiming to protect and enhance the interests of its members, considering the
interest of other stakeholders with the inclusion of employees, employers, and the general
community. The Hostplus Board is dedicated to enhancing effective corporate governance to
promote fairness, openness, and accountability in the manner it operates. The company believes
that in capping and retaining the members to the Fund, is essential for the Board to sponsor and
partner with particular institutions in various departments such as hospitality, tourism, recreation,
and sports markets that the company serves. Thus, the Board only partners with companies that
have strong corporate governance and Board accountability.
On the other hand, corporate governance at NAB constitutes a framework that plays a
vital role in supporting the company’s business operations. It demonstrates clear guidance on
how power gets exercised within the group (NAB, 2019). The primary component of NAB’s
culture and business practices ensures that its corporate governance structure accords advice for
effective decision making across all sectors of the group by providing planning that touches on
strategy and operations, management of risk and compliance, facilitating financial management
and external reporting and lastly facilitating smooth transition of succession planning and
culture.

ACCOUNTING THEORY AND CASE STUDY
3
Composition of the Board
The Board at NAB is composed of nine autonomous directors that are non-executive and
includes the Chairman and one executive director. As of 2018, it was reported that NAB had
33% female non-executive director on the company’s Board. The Chairman of the Board at NAB
is Philip (NAB, 2019) Chronican who is responsible for assuming the leadership role in the
Board and facilitating that it adheres to a high standard with regards to corporate governance and
fulfills its mandate under the Charter with regards to the Board. Andrew Thorburn has been
serving the CEO of NAB, and it was not until recently that he was expected to resign following
the scandals within the company.
The Board at HostPlus has 11 directors with three non-executive directors. David Elia is
the CEO of HostPlus and has been identified as the most experienced in Australia and an
influential business leader (HostPlus, 2019). He has a career spanning more than 25 years, and
it is through the vision that he has delivered consistently excellent outcomes and actual
stakeholder value.
Part B
Failure of corporate governance by NAB
This part aims to evaluate the effect on NAB’s performance or lack of management
regulation, weak adherence to risk management frameworks and controls, and failure of internal
governance protocols. It was identified and acknowledged in the 2004 NAB annual report that it
the poor performance exhibited by the company was due to failure of the corporate governance
and this led to the reputation of NAB being affected adversely by issues arising from
compliance, lack of substantial accountability and lack of a definite cultural framework.