Organisations are navigating unprecedented geopolitical disruption, regulatory shifts, advancements in AI and economic uncertainty. The role non-executive directors play in anticipating emerging threats and harnessing new opportunities is becoming a greater balancing act by the day and one they must tackle in the face of increasing scrutiny from investors, regulators, and other stakeholder groups.
As Australian board members look to consider and carry out their 2024 board agenda, it’s instructive to look to insights from boards around the globe. On the 2024 board agenda unpacks key insights into boardroom challenges from our latest survey as well as interactions with directors and business leaders from across KPMG’s global Board Leadership Community. This report identifies the top nine priority issues for boards in 2024 as they navigate in an uncertain operating environment.
Top board priorities 2024
Based on survey results and conversations with directors from our Global Board Leadership Community, we uncovered the top nine considerations for boards in 2024.
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Link boardroom discussions on strategy, risk and global disruption.
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Monitor efforts to design and maintain a governance structure for the development and use of gen AI.
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Maintain focus on cybersecurity and data privacy.
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Embed climate and ESG objectives in risk and strategy discussions.
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Keep abreast of management’s preparations for new climate and sustainability reporting requirements.
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Enhance communication and coordination between the board and its committees.
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Clarify when the CEO should speak out on social issues.
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Prioritise talent, human capital management and CEO succession.
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Think strategically about talent, expertise and diversity in the boardroom.
- Link boardroom discussions on strategy, risk and global disruption.
- Monitor efforts to design and maintain a governance structure for the development and use of gen AI.
- Maintain focus on cybersecurity and data privacy.
- Embed climate and ESG objectives in risk and strategy discussions.
- Keep abreast of management’s preparations for new climate and sustainability reporting requirements.
- Enhance communication and coordination between the board and its committees.
- Clarify when the CEO should speak out on social issues.
- Prioritise talent, human capital management and CEO succession.
- Think strategically about talent, expertise and diversity in the boardroom.
Audit committee contacts
- Ensure the board and senior executive team possess the skills to expand and enhance ESG oversight.
- Enrich board decision-making through visible and invisible diversity and its intersections.
- Prioritise the board skills required to support growth.
- Invest in succession planning.
- Plan for increasingly active investors.
- Engage with the voice of the workforce and wider stakeholder perspectives.
- Have clarity of purpose.
- Ensure the board is ESG-competent.
- Engage proactively with shareholders and other stakeholders.
- Embed ESG, including climate risk and DEI issues, into risk and strategy discussions.
- Drive the transition towards a more purposeful, ESG-oriented organisation through culture.
- Challenge the relevance and propriety of systems, controls and data.
- Finetune the scope and quality of reporting to investors and other stakeholders.
ESG committee contacts
- Ease cost-of-living pressures as much as possible.
- Continue to focus on the ESG agenda.
- Prioritise diversity and inclusion.
- Consider pay transparency regulations.
- Understand investor guidelines.
- Incentivise a customer-centric approach.
- Take into account the impacts of the removal of the bonus cap.
- Keep abreast of Non-Executive Director fees.
Download: On the 2024 board agenda
Nine issues for boards to focus on in 2024. Download the report to learn more about boardroom challenges in 2024.
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What is KPMG’s Board Leadership Centre?
KPMG’s Board Leadership Centre is a global program connecting and supporting non-executive directors in facing today’s challenges, anticipating emerging threats and harnessing new opportunities.
As a member of the program, you’ll gain access to exclusive tools and resources as well as an extensive network of other non-executive directors to help you navigate the ever-changing demands of society and the business world. You’ll have the opportunity to trade insights, share ideas and support each other in tackling today’s boardroom issues.
